Forever And Again
by SadieMarie
Summary: Good news! I'm planning on continuing this! :D
1. Prolog

**Prolog**

This story takes place a year later. This is just a bit of background information before you read the real thing.

Note: The group's story has been told many times, so everyone knows all the details. Their parents included.

(Just in case I forget to mention that for whatever reasons)

Characters:

-**Emily**- thirteen going on fourteen. Going steady with Tidus. Still has the pocket watch that controls time, and still calls her key blade which has the appropriate title: Innocent heart. She is a bit taller, medium length brown hair, usually wears blue capris with a white tank top that has spaghetti straps + sandals. When swimming, she wears a purple tankini.

-**Sora**- just turned sixteen. He is going out with Kairi (of course). He wears the same clothes. He is taller, and his hair is just a bit longer, but still very spiky. If he's swimming on the island, he usually keeps his pants on, just removes his shirt. Roxas is inside of him, and Sora will often talk to him, forgetting that other people can't hear Roxas's voice.

-**Kairi**- also turned sixteen. She also wears the same outfit. She too is taller, and her hair is longer. Obviously going out with Sora. Kairi wears a magenta tankini when swimming. She has the key blade, (if it actually has a real name, please tell me!) Summer wind. Not quite as skilled as Sora, Emily, and Riku, but she's working on it. She often practices with Sora and the gang. Namine speaks inside her, but unlike Sora, Kairi is smart enough to talk back through thoughts.

-**Riku**- he recently turned 17. He was depressed and was holding back for a while. It is assumed that it was because he was having a hard time accepting the fact that Kairi was Sora's, and that she never liked him "in that way". He's now in a happier mood, and is back to most of his usual tricks. He's very protective of Emily after saving her life twice, and because he and Emily have shared an experience with the darkness like no one else has. He wears the same clothes. His hair is the same length, and he still uses his key blade as well. When swimming he just keeps all of his clothes on, but he doesn't swim as often as he used to. He usually sits along the shoreline, or on a palm tree.

-**Tidus**- he has been fourteen for about two months longer than Emily. He's much taller, and has spikier hair. He practices fighting with Emily and the gang (he doesn't have to let Emily win anymore. She's an even match for him). He wants to be with Emily when and if she goes away again. He can't stand the thought of being left behind again, nor can he stand the thought of Emily being in danger. Emily has different feelings about the subject however. Emily wants to convince him that staying at the islands would be better. She can't stand the thought of him being hurt (he doesn't wield a key blade after all). Tidus has a pair of dark blue swimming trunks when swimming.

-**Mark**- Seven years old. His twin is Shelby. Sora and Emily's little brother. He loves to hang with his older siblings, and has a major crush on Kairi, and he's not afraid to show it, even if it is in front of Sora. Which usually ends up with Sora chasing after him and play wrestling him to the ground. Mark is four feet, three inches tall (yes, it's an exact measurment). He's about three inches taller than Shelby. He wants to hang with the older kids, but his mom usually doesn't let him. His hair slightly resembles Sora's. He is his role model after all.

-**Shelby**- the baby of the family. Mark's twin. She has long, golden-brown hair. She's also seven. It's ironic, but she has a crush on Tidus. She's usually shy around him though. She likes to be left alone to color and do other little girl things. She looks up to Emily a lot, and likes to copy most of everything that she does. Very shy, and is babied by everyone, and usually gets her way whenever her older siblings are babysitting. She just has that, "special" charm. What with her puppy dog faces, what respectable older brother and sister could resist? Mark may be immune to her tricks, but the rest of the family is not.

These are the main characters in the story. Some old returning ones are Selphie, Wakka, King Mickey, Donald, and Goofy.

There are other returning characters which I regret to say, cannot be mentioned. Don't worry. It'll be made clear who they are as the story progresses.

New character(s):

-- the little girl mentioned in the first paragraph. What is her purpose, and why does Emily keep having dreams about her?

There are other new characters, but they cannot be mentioned until a later time. So sorry, but you'll just have to keep reading.

Returning Worlds:

-Hollow Bastion-

-Twilight town-

-Destiny Islands-

-and others as well-


	2. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer- most things belong to Square Enix and Disney. I own this story idea, and Emily plus or minus a few characters.**

**A/N- well, i'm back! with the sequal:) I hope it turns out just as good as the first story! Remember the paragraph sneak peak? Well, it's still in here! But it's explained a bit. I think... well any ways, hello to old and new readers! Well, get started all ready! **

**Random Fact: If you look at Ch. 21 of Anything, the very last word in my ending author's note is ironicly '_anything_'. Okay, random fact over.**

_Capitulo Uno_**

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**Chapter 1**

_A young girl, no older than nine, no younger than five, was running through what looked like a tropical forest. Her features were distorted and impossible to make out. The girl stumbled, looked back at whatever was chasing her, screamed, and continued to run, pushing herself to go faster. She tripped and somersaulted over the large tree roots. She cried out for help and screamed as whatever was chasing her, caught up with her. Whatever it was, was black, and it was impossible to make out what it was. It looked like a piece of black material, the way it fluttered in the breeze. It covered all of the view, and there was a scream followed by a sickening crunch. The black material turned away, and the little girl was gone. Left in her place was a pool of blood._

Emily screamed as she woke up. She was panting hard.

"Just--- just that dream again…" Emily told herself. She was sweating profusely, and breathing hard, as if she were the one who had been running. Emily looked at her alarm clock which read nine o'clock. Emily flopped back down on her pillow, and huffed. She looked at a picture on her night stand. It was everyone. Sora, Kairi, Tidus, Riku, Selphie, Wakka and herself. It was taken a month after everyone had returned, which was about a year ago. By now, their story had been told many times. It seemed that just about everyone in the town knew of them and their adventures. Sora, Kairi, Selphie, and Wakka were all sixteen, Riku had just turned seventeen, and today, Emily was turning fourteen.

She was turning fourteen! It was her birthday!

"Woo hoo!" she cried, jumping out of bed. She grabbed a blue skort, a light blue tank top, and a pair of sandals out of her closet. She turned around to wake up her little sister, Shelby, but she wasn't there.

"Aw crap." Emily said. She had been told that she was supposed to watch her little brother and sister today of all days. Her parents were out, Sora was on a date with Kairi, and the twins, only being seven years old, were not old enough to be home alone.

Emily had wanted to call Tidus to come over, but he was visiting with family that day. Emily's other friends were all busy too. This one day, Emily's birthday, she was stuck at home with two little kids, and friendless. What a great way to celebrate. Emily knocked on Mark's bedroom door. No answer. Emily opened it and said, "Mark? You awake." Still no answer.

"This isn't funny!" Emily shouted, barging into the room. Mark wasn't in his bed.

Emily ran downstairs.

"Shelby! Mark! Come out right now! This isn't funny guys!" she shouted, racing around the house. She heard giggling by the front door.

"A ha!" she cried, running towards the door. Shelby and Mark were standing near the open door. Emily wondered how she had failed to notice this the first time she went by the door. _Those little sneaks. _She thought.

"What do you think you're doing!?" She yelled at them.

"Seeing if you're fast enough to catch us!" they said together. They ran out the door, not giving Emily anytime to think.

"Huh!? Hey! Wait! Get back here! I think I might just end my misery and kill you!" She shouted, running after them, being sure to lock the front door as she left.

The twins led Emily all the way to the market place. _I'm going to be killed by my parents if these two get lost. _Emily thought. Her little brother and sister had been going through their, "I'm not listening to you or anyone else's rules" phase. Emily was out of breath, and trying to find Shelby and Mark in an unusually crowded market place.

"Excuse me." Emily said, shoving her way through everyone. "Why is it so crowded here?" Emily thought aloud. She looked around to see if she could find a reason.

"Ah." she said. She spotted a sign that said, "Annual Produce Week". _So it's that time of year again. _She thought. Once a year, the small city held a special event at the small market place. People came to share secret recipes, tricks of the trade, and there were fruit and vegetable competitions as well.

Emily finally got through the crowd with many, "excuse me's", and found herself in front of "Tom's Warehouse". It was an old building that had been closed for as long as Emily could remember. She knew that certain events could be held in it, if given permission.

"Why are they here of all places? There's probably some, oh I don't know, secret police meeting going on inside." Emily said, searching for her twin siblings. She spotted them entering a side door.

"Get back here! You two are in so much trouble!" As Emily tried to walk closer, a large group of people made its way in front of her.

Emily let out an exasperated sigh as she shoved her way through the crowd. She ran into someone, a man she guessed, but chose not to look at him as she said, "Sorry."

"It's okay." said a familiar voice. Emily turned to see who it had been, but all she saw was a flash of red hair, and the man was gone.

"Aren't you gonna chase us, Emmy?" cried her sister's voice. It brought Emily back to reality. She turned and Shelby ran back through the door. Emily sighed again as she ran towards the door.

She slowly opened the it, hoping to catch her siblings off guard. Emily was greeted with a loud, "Surprise!" Emily stood in shock. All of her friends were there, standing around a large table that had a huge cake with frosting flowers, and the words, "Happy 14th Emily" written on it.

"Wha---" Emily said, confused.

"You're not really gonna kill us, are ya Emmy?" Shelby asked. Emily shook her head. Everyone started singing the happy birthday song, and Tidus walked up to her, a small present in his hand.

"This is for you." he said, giving Emily a small kiss on her cheek.

"Thank you!" Emily said, unwrapping the gift. Inside it was a necklace that had a small heart pendent on the end of it.

"It's beautiful, Tidus! Thank you! I love it!" Emily said, quickly putting the necklace on. Emily received money from her other friends and a key blade key chain from Sora. Every one ate cake, which was the greatest Emily had ever tasted. There was music and party games as well. After it was over and everyone but Sora, the twins, Kairi, and Riku had left.

"Hey," Emily started, sitting down in a chair located near the wall. "I had that dream again."

"What? The one about that little girl?" Sora asked, joining her.

"Yea." Emily answered.

"Only this time, I think--- I think she died." Emily said, a little shaky from the sight still fresh in her mind. Sora gave her a concerning look.

"Have you been watching any scary movies lately? Or maybe you've been eating something weird before you went to bed..." Sora suggested. Emily shook her head.

"You know I hate scary movies. Anyway. There's something about these dreams. I can't explain it, but they're not--- _normal_. It's like a continuing story." Emily tried to explain the best she could. Sora gave her a blank stare, not sure what to say.

"I don't know, Em." he said after his pause. When he went to start cleaning up, Emily grabbed his arm and added, "There's something else, too."

Sora turned around and asked, "What?"

"You'll never believe me, but--- I swear I saw--- Axel." Emily said. Sora cocked his eyebrow and said, "Uh-- Em? He's--- Axel's--- _gone_. We both saw him--- well, you know. How could he be back? Are you getting enough sleep at night?" Emily narrowed her eyes and said, "Yes. Of course I am! I---- I just--- why is all this strangeness happening to me? Why doesn't anyone else seem to be having these problems?" Sora shrugged his shoulders and went to help the others clean up. Emily sighed as she got up to help, too.

After the cleaning was over, Sora said excitedly, "Hey! I've got an idea! After we drop Mark and Shell off at home, let's go to the island! Just us! The key blade bearers!" He put his arm around Kairi, and stuck the other one in the air, summoning his key blade. He then swung it around triumphantly.

"Show off." Emily said, sticking out her tongue. Sora glared at her, and dismissed his blade. Kairi laughed and she said, "Sure. That'd be fun!" The trio looked to Riku, to see what his reply was. Riku stared at his friends, his face unreadable. He finally shrugged and said, "Sure."

"Hey!" an angry Mark shouted, stamping his foot. "Why can't me and Shelby come too!?"

"Because," Sora said. "Your too little. Besides, _Kairi_ said it'd be better to leave you at home." Kairi shot a look at him that said, 'I did not!' Mark's face immediately dropped. Open mouthed he said, "You don't want me there, Kairi?" Kairi shot another look at Sora before she said sweetly, "Of course I want you to come, Mark. It's just that, you don't have a key blade, and were going to have a key blade party." Mark looked at Kairi and said in an overly confident voice, "I can hold a key blade! Watch!" He turned to Sora and asked, "Can I see yours?" Sora shook his head and Mark turned to Emily. Emily rolled her eyes and called her key blade.

"Have at it." she said, handing it to him (she knew all too well that this wasn't going to work). Mark's eyes glowed excitedly as he took it. He turned to Kairi, eyes closed, so proud of himself, "See?" he asked. Kairi smiled and said, "I don't see anything." She pointed to his hand. Mark opened his eyes to see that the key blade was no longer in it. He whipped around to Emily. The key blade had reappeared in her hand.

"Aw man! Why does that always happen?" he asked, let down. Kairi bent to his level and said, "Maybe someday when you're older, you'll have a key blade too." Mark looked into her eyes and grinned.

"'Kay." He said, grinning at Kairi, which was amusing because he had lost his front tooth recently. Kairi laughed.

As they were leaving the warehouse, Emily asked, "So, who planned this whole thing?"

"Sora did. Along with the rest of us. Your parents are the ones who paid for everything though." Riku explained.

"Well, thank you. It was a very nice surprise. One question though," Emily said. "How on earth did you get Shelby and Mark to keep the secret?"

"Well duh," Sora said, making it sound as if it were obvious. "I told them that they wouldn't get any cake." Emily laughed.

"Oh, I see." she said.

After they had dropped off the two seven year olds, they all made their way to the docks.

"You can come with me. Kairi and Sora probably want this for, some _alone time_." Riku said to Emily. Emily laughed at the look Sora gave him. He and Kairi had been together for a while now, and Sora still got red in the face when he, or anyone at that matter, mentioned Kairi.

As they rowed their little boats, Riku and Emily didn't talk about anything in particular. Riku seemed to hold his feelings in recently. Emily figured he must've grown used to it while he roamed the realm of darkness.

"So," Emily said, growing uncomfortable in the silence. Riku looked at her, but said nothing.

"It's been one year since we've returned. I wonder what's going on with the King… we haven't heard from him or the others since…" Emily tried to make conversation.

"He's probably trying to find a way to lock the door linking light and darkness for good." Riku said. Emily nodded, not sure how to respond.

"Do you think the door will ever be able to be locked? For good I mean? As long as darkness is in people's hearts… won't the door always be there?" Emily questioned. Riku shrugged his shoulders.

"No one can be sure." he said.

"The darkness---" Emily stated. "It hasn't been to the islands since the day you, Sora, and Kairi first left. It came, but it left after that. That day, the day you left, I had a dream. In the dream--- Xemnas---" Emily was cut off by Riku.

"Xemnas said that a year had passed. I know, I know. You've told the story nearly a hundred times." Riku said, smirking.

"So you _were_ paying attention." Emily commented.

"Surprisingly, I was." he said back. Emily smiled and shook her head. When they reached the dock on the island, they tied up their boats and got out.

"So Sora," Kairi said. "What are we going to do here, exactly?" Sora looked at her and replied, "I dunno. I just felt like coming is all. I like it here."

"There had to have been a reason," Kairi said, trying to get a response from him. Sora shrugged his shoulders.

"Just the four of us. I like it when the others are here, but--- now that we've all been key bladers, I just feel--- sort of distant from them. I'm not exactly sure how to put it." he tried to explain.

"I understand what you mean." Riku said, walking off to the small island that was connected to the big one via a small bridge.

"Hey!" Sora called to him. "Wait for me!" Sora then proceeded to run after him.

"Should we join them?" Emily asked Kairi who was taking off her shoes and putting her feet in the water.

"No… let them have their--- 'guy time'." She laughed, splashing in the tide. Emily took off her shoes and joined her.

After much running and a few splashing fights later, Kairi focused all her attention out at the horizon. Emily looked out there too, trying to spot what it was Kairi was looking at.

"What is it, Kairi?" she asked after straining her eyes to see something they couldn't. Kairi pointed and said, "There! Do you see it? It's floating in the water! I can't tell what it is, but the sun keeps reflecting off of it." She continued to stare at whatever it was.

"Okay… I don't see anyth--- Oh! I see it now!" Emily said. Kairi was right. Something was gleaming out in the distance.

The girls stood and watched the object, trying to see if it was coming into shore or not. It was progressively coming closer, but at a very slow pace. The sun was setting before it was close enough to see what it was.

"It's a bottle!" Emily said, realizing what the object was. Kairi nodded.

"I wonder who it's from?" she asked. When the bottle was a few feet away, Emily waded out and grabbed it. She gave it to Kairi, who gasped and stared at it.

"What is it?" Emily asked.

"This is from the king!" she shouted.

"How do you know?" Emily asked her. Kairi shoved the bottle in her face. There was a little mouse insignia on the paper.

"King Mickey!" Emily said excitedly. Kairi nodded her head, and began running to where Sora and Riku were standing.

They were standing near the oddly bent paupu fruit tree.

"Sora! Riku!" Kairi called. As Kairi tried to catch her breath, Sora asked, concerned, "Hey!? What's up?"

"Look!" she said, holding up the bottle. Sora looked at it, a bit confused.

"From the King?" he asked, taking the bottle from Kairi's outstretched hand.

They all crowded around to see what it read.

"What's it say!?" Emily said, not able to see the letter (Riku and Kairi were too close, and not giving Emily any space to see it). Sora looked up.

"Here. Read it for yourself." His face was grim. Emily took the peice of paper.

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**A/N- haha i left you with a cliffy on the first chapter:) I hope you all read the prolog thingy, cause it explains a bit of how the characters look, and it provides quite a bit of information about this story. Please review! Heart you all. lol**


	3. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: don't own Kingdom Hearts or anything Kingdom Hearts related.**

**A/N i would just like to say that i'm _extreamly, very, very, muy, muy_ sorry. it's just that these last three weeks have been busy as heck for me. so agian, so, so sorry. I didn't discontinue this story or anything. now please, read capitulo dos.****

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Chapter 2

_Dear everyone,_

_I hope you all have been well this past year. Listen. I don't have much time to write. As you might have guessed, I am currently searching for a way to permanently lock the door that separates light and darkness. While searching Ansem the Wise's computer for clues, I came across a very interesting piece of information. It said that there is a "being" that is so powerful, that it can control darkness and light. It is a nobody, but one far more powerful than any of the organization 13 could've hoped to be. It is believed that every time this being "dies", another replaces it. There was a disturbance in the corner stone of light the other day. It was flickering, something it **cannot** do unless a very powerful source of light is around. It led me to believe that this being has been reborn once again. I'll tell you as much as I know. When the being comes into existence, it's much like the process of being turned into a nobody. A strong willed person dies, and a nobody comes into existence. The only thing is, this person doesn't know that he or she is this being. It must be told by someone, and it must come to except the fact that it is the most powerful being in existence. This being is the only thing that can lock the door for good. To do this, it needs five key blade wielders, and what is called, "The Willing Sacrifice". The five key bladers are known as The Receiver, The Heroic Warrior, The Blind Seeker, The Kind Lover, and The Powerful Small One. I am sorry I cannot explain this more in depth, but I must search for this being, and find more information about these 6 people. I have called Goofy and Donald to come with me. I shall send you another message soon, but I can't be sure of when it will come. Interstellar bottle messaging is difficult to predict. The message will come like this one though. Through the ocean I mean._

_His Majesty,_

_King Mickey_

"So what does this mean exactly?" Emily asked, worried.

"I don't know." Sora answered point blankly.

"So there's six people that this--- _being_--- needs." Riku said out loud. "The key bladers; The Receiver, the Heroic Warrior, the Blind Seeker, the Kind Lover, and the Powerful Small One. And then it needs, an average person, I'm guessing? Five key bladers and one called "the Willing Sacrifice". But none of these people know who they are? How are we supposed to figure this out?" Riku asked. Emily reflected on what the letter said before saying sadly, "Are we gonna have to leave again?" The other's faces fell as well.

"My guess is yes." Sora answered. "But who knows, this could be the best adventure of them all!"

"You sound like you're excited to leave again." Riku said, smirking at Sora.

"It's not like that--- I've loved being back on the islands. But there's just not a lot of action here. No heartless, no nobodies, no--- anything! Don't you miss it?" Sora asked. The others gave him odd stares.

"Not really." they all answered in some form or another.

"I hope the King's okay…" Kairi said, the worry coming back to her face.

"Hey!" Sora said, putting his arm around her shoulder. "I'm sure the king's fine! He seems to be good at keeping himself out of danger. Don't worry about it too much. You'll just go and get yourself depressed. Okay?" Kairi smiled and nodded.

"I wonder what he meant by this "being". I mean, is it a person, animal, or--- what?" Emily asked, although she knew the others knew as little as she did about it. As she predicted, they all shrugged their shoulders.

"Who knows." Riku said. The group watched the sun set, their minds full of unanswered questions about the adventure that seemed to be coming. Who were these key bladers? Were they them? Other key blade wielders that they had to find? Who or what was this strange being? If it could be both light and dark, which side was it on? What part did they have to play in this? Those were just a few of the questions that floated through Emily's wandering mind.

"I hope the king sends us another letter soon." Emily commented as the group got their boats ready to go. And by group, Emily meant Sora and Riku doing all the work while she and Kairi sat on the dock's edge.

"He will." Sora said confidently. Emily looked off into the horizon, as if she expected something spectacular to happen. Of course, nothing did. Emily failed to notice that the boats were untied, and that Kairi had gotten up to join Sora in a boat.

"Hey kid! You comin' home with us, or are you just going to sit there and wait until someone comes in the morning to get you?" Riku's voice said. Emily snapped back into reality.

"Huh?" she said stupidly, standing up, her eyes still fixed on the horizon.

"He's trying to say, Hurry up!" Sora shouted.

Emily shook her head and joined Riku in his boat.

"What were you thinking about?" he asked her once they started rowing.

"How did you know I was thinking about something?" she questioned him.

"You just always--- space out like that when something's on your mind is all." Riku answered. Emily sighed.

"It's just---" she started. "I don't wanna leave again. My parents--- it'd break their hearts. And not to mention my little brother and sister. They've already spent over a year without a big brother, and then I went and disappeared. I'm afraid they'll grow up hating us for leaving them so much." Emily explained.

Riku nodded.

"I know what you mean. Well, about the parents part anyway." Riku didn't have any siblings to worry about leaving. He was an only child.

"My parents would be devastated." he continued.

"And this bothers me too. What part do we play in all this? I mean, why would the king go out of his way to tell us about all of that? Are we--- the five key bladers he was talking about?" Emily questioned.

"Well, there's only four of us." Riku pointed out. Emily nodded.

"Well, if you count Mickey, that makes five." she said.

"I don't know what to tell you Em. The fact is just that. I don't know." Riku said calmly.

The rest of the boat ride home was quiet as Emily and Riku sat in their thoughts.

When the group reached the docks on their home island, they tied up their boats and stood together, looking towards the sky.

"If we _do_ go away again," Sora said. "At least we can all be together this time." Everyone nodded.

"Well," Riku said, stretching. "I think we should start heading for home. I don't know about you guys, but I need some serious sleep." With that, Riku left the group with a wave, and began heading for his home.

"I think so too." Kairi said. She hugged Sora and asked, "Am I still coming over tomorrow?"

"Yup." Sora answered, giving her a tight squeeze before they let go of each other and went their separate ways.

"Oh that's right." Emily said, remembering. "Mom and Dad left you in charge tomorrow, didn't they. Where are they going again?"

"Mom's Mom's house. I think they're helping her remodel her kitchen." Sora answered as he and Emily began walking towards their house. After walking a few minutes in silence, Emily asked, "How long do you think it'll be 'till we get the King's next message?"

"Don't know." Sora said, shrugging his shoulders. "Soon enough." he continued. "Just be patient Em." Emily sighed.

When they reached their house, the lights were all off.

"Great." Emily said. "I hope Mom and Dad aren't too angry."

"Me too." Sora agreed. He carefully and quietly turned the door knob, trying to make the least amount of noise as possible. The door slid open silently.

"Hello?" Emily whispered as quietly as she could. Sora held his finger to his lips as he closed the door with out so much as a creak. They took off their shoes, and made their way for the stairs. They didn't even reach the third step before their mother's voice came from behind them.

"Don't think your father and I weren't going to wait for you to get home. Now, where were you? Don't give me that look young lady, I don't care if it is your birthday." Their mother had her hands on her hips.

"Uhh---" Sora said dumbly.

"We went to the island… and… umm---" Emily tried to explain without telling of the King's letter.

"The currents were strong because the tide was coming in." Sora finished for her. "So--- it took us longer to get back to the home docks." Their mother rolled her eyes.

"Fine." she said as she crossed her arms on her chest. "Just get to bed. Sora. Don't forget about tomorrow." Sora nodded and he and Emily ran up the rest of the stairs.

"Close call." Emily said after checking to see if her mother was still standing at the bottom of the stairs. Sora nodded in agreement.

Emily opened her bedroom door quietly as to not wake her sister. But Shelby was a light sleeper.

"Sissy?" she asked, rubbing her little eyes in the light. Emily closed the door.

"Yes. It's me." Emily said, changing into her pajamas.

"Why were you gone for so long?" Shelby asked, sitting up. Emily said nothing as she climbed into her own bed.

"Just go back to sleep, okay?" Emily finally replied.

"Sissy?" Shelby asked again.

"Yes?" Emily answered, annoyed, and now feeling the effects of tiredness.

"Are you and Sora gonna leave again…?" Shelby asked quietly.

Emily opened her eyes and turned to look at her sister, who was fiddling with her small fingers.

"What?" She asked, although she had heard her just fine. "No! Of course not." Emily bit her lip, knowing that that was more than just a little white lie.

"Good." Shelby said, laying down and pulling her covers on top of her. "I don't want you to." Emily said nothing as she laid her head back down. Within a few minutes, Emily heard the sound of deep breathing coming from her sister.

"Even if I do leave," Emily said in just barely a whisper. "I'll come back."

Emily let herself drift to sleep.

_Emily felt herself fall through empty space. She opened her eyes, and braced herself for impact with a large puddle. She landed on her feet with a soft thud. Emily looked around. She gasped when she realized where she was._

"_The world that never was!" she cried. She tried to call her key blade, but it wouldn't come._

"_I must be dreaming…" she said, trying to convince herself. She pinched her arm._

"_Ouch!" she screamed. "That hurt!". Emily began walking for no apparent reason. It was as if her legs were being controlled by some other force._

_After ten or so minutes of wandering where her legs were taking her, she reached a corner of a large black building. She stopped, and was unable to move her legs again._

"_What's going on…" she whispered. It was then that she noticed a familiar man's voice was speaking, although the voice now sounded weak, old, and drained of all life. Emily gasped._

"_Xemnas!" she gasped under her breath. She peered around the corner of the building and saw that the man she thought to be Xemnas speaking to a very small girl. She had seen the girl before, in another dream. In the previous dream, the girl had been blurred, and was running through some sort of forest. Trying to escape a large black creature. Emily recognized the girl now before her as the one from that other dream. She put two and two together and figured that the girl was running from a heartless. Which must have killed her._

_The small girl looked very strange. Her hair was neatly parted. One side was white, and the other black. Her eyes were just as strange as her hair. The eye on the side of the black hair was white, and the eye on the side of the white hair was black. The girl's robe was likewise. It was half black and half white, and the colors matched up with her eyes. The girl was sitting in a puddle, looking like she was in shock. Emily tried to hear what Xemnas was telling her. Emily realized that Xemnas was different. He was much thinner, and his hair was more gray now, instead of white._

_"Yes." Xemnas was saying. "You are very powerful indeed. Do not be afraid child. I am not going to harm you. Let me touch your forehead." when Xemnas went to touch the girl, she grabbed his hand._

"_Why? Where am I? What happened?" For such a small girl, her voice was strong, as well as her grip on the man's arm. Xemnas chuckled._

"_I will answer your questions shortly child. Now. I must touch your head so I can see what power you possess. I promise you, it will not hurt." Xemnas said, pressing two fingers on the girl's forehead._

_Where he touched her, a strong golden light began to glow. It was obvious that Xemnas was struggling to keep his ground. When it became to much for him, he took his fingers off. Xemnas knelt to the ground and said, "Very, very powerful indeed. Now you must summon your weapon. Just concentrate and close your eyes. Your weapon will come." Xemnas instructed. As soon as the girl closed her eyes, she began to levitate off the ground._

"_Yes. That's it." Xemnas said to himself. A bubble of light and shadow engulfed the girl. She floated higher and higher into the sky._

"_No!" Xemnas shouted as he jumped up and tried to grab the girl's ankle._

_It was too late. Xemnas watched in horror along with Emily as the bubble of light and shadow grew as it circled the girl's body. Then in an explosion, the bubble burst. To the right, a huge flash of light as bright as the sun exploded into the city, and to the left, a shadow of darkness exploded and made the other half of the city as dark as space. Emily watched in shock and awe as the entire city was engulfed in either light or darkness. When it was all over, the girl's limp body lay in a puddle not too far away from Emily. It was obvious that she was unconscious. _

_It was then that Emily's vision became distorted. Everything began to twist and turn, horribly disrupting Emily's sense of balance. Just when Emily thought she was going to barf, she began falling through nothing once more. She awoke in her bead._

Emily gasped for air as she sat up in bed. She was very cold, yet when she looked at her arms, she noticed they were sweaty.

"Mama says you've got a fever." Shelby said. She was sitting at the end of Emily's bed, holding a wet towel in her hand. She gently dabbed it on her sister's forehead. Emily shoved her away, and looked at her clock. It read one o'clock in the afternoon.

"When did mom and dad leave?" Emily practically shouted. Shelby put the cloth on Emily's head again as she answered, "Early this morning. Mama came in and noticed you shivering. So she got me up and she put another blanket on you. She told me that I could be your doctor. Mark went over to his friend's house, and Sora's downstairs with Kairi."

Emily threw off her blankets and ran downstairs. She had to tell Sora and Kairi about her dream.

"Hey!" Shelby called. "You're sick! Get back here!" Emily didn't care. She skipped stairs as she flew down them. She ran into the family room, where she guessed Sora and Kairi were watching a movie. Emily panted as she said, "Sora! Kairi! I had--- a weird--- dream! It---"

"Hey! What are you doing out of bed?" Sora interrupted. He and Kairi paused the movie as they turned around to look at Emily.

"I t-told you!" Emily said, the panting replaced with shivering.

"I _n-need_ to tell you ab-bout my dream!"

"If it's the same one as before, we've _heard_ it before." Sora said. "Now go back to bed. If mom finds out I let you stay up all day, I'll be in for it."

"No!" Emily shouted. "It's d-different! I th-think I kn-now who the--- _b-being_ is!"

Sora stood up and took Emily by the shoulders and began pushing her towards the stairs.

"You just had a strange dream. You get those when you're sick. Now go back to bed!" Sora ordered as he continued to push. Emily let out an exasperated sigh as she stomped up the stairs. She turned around and saw that Sora was waiting for her to go all the way up.

She went back to her room, slammed the door, and got back into bed.

"I'm your doctor and I'm putting you under room arrest!" Shelby shouted, locking the door from the inside. Shelby then forced Emily to lay down and then proceeded to dab her forehead with the wet cloth. Emily drifted back into a dreamless sleep.

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**A/N- agian, SOOOOO sorry. any hoo, please review. **


	4. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: don't own**

**A/N: sorry. i would have updated yesterday, but the site wouldn't let me upload the document, so, i'm sorry about that. Any way, here's the long awaited caputilo tres.****

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Chapter 3

"Emily! Wake up! Emily!" Emily heard Shelby's voice calling out her name. She groaned as she opened her eyes. Her head was pounding, but she didn't feel feverishly cold anymore.

"Emily, Mama called. She asked if you were alright, and I told her you were getting better. I took your temperature an hour ago, and told Mama what it said. She says you're normal now. Oh, and Sora wants to know what you want for dinner." Shelby rambled off.

"I want aspirin." Emily said, messaging her temples in an attempt to make her head ache go away.

"I'll go tell him. Are you sure you don't want regular dinner?" Shelby asked, stopping at the door. Emily sighed and said, "I don't know. Soup."

"'kay." Shelby said, closing the door as she left. Emily sighed once more, and turned to look at her clock. _Six o'clock. _She thought. It was then that she remembered she still had to tell Sora and Kairi about her dream. She was about to leap out of bed when she thought, _But what about Shelby. How am I supposed to get rid of her? If she were to overhear what I'm going to tell them… _Then and idea popped into her head, and she decided to remain in her bed.

"Here's your asprinim Sissy." Shelby said, as she reentered the room.

"Aspirin." Emily corrected. Emily got out of bed slowly, took the aspirin from Shelby, and made a run for it.

"Wha-- Hey!" Shelby cried. Emily ran out the door, closed it, and locked it from the outside. Shelby ran to the door and started pounding on it.

"Hey! Let me out! What are you doing!?" She cried from behind the door.

"Sorry, Shell." Emily said, as she sprinted for the stairs. After she was about half way down, she grabbed the banister and leapt over it, creating a rather large boom on the wood floor.

"What was that?" Emily heard Sora shout from the kitchen. Emily practically ran into him as she sped into the kitchen.

"What the--- Emily!? What are you doing?" He asked after catching his balance. Emily caught her breath as she replied, "I have to tell you about my dream! _You_ never gave me a chance earlier."

"Emily," Sora said in an unusually stern voice.

"No!" Emily cried. "Please, let me tell you!"

"Maybe we should listen to her, Sora." Kairi said, coming from the oven. Sora looked at her and sighed as he said, "Fine. Just, sit down or something, Em."

Emily sat down in one of the kitchen table chairs, followed by Sora and Kairi. Emily then delved into her dream, thinking it was odd that she could remember every detail, down to every last puddle. Most of the time, Emily couldn't remember what color shirt she was wearing in her dreams.

"So what do ya think?" Emily asked after finishing. Sora and Kairi just sat there.

"Em," Sora started. "I think--- you're going mad. First you start having strange dreams about some girl you don't even know, then you think you see Axel, then you see Xemnas in this dream, and now you think that that little girl is the being King Mickey talked about? I mean, come on Em. Face the facts. Maybe you're just seeing all this weird stuff because you want to. You got close to Axel when you stayed with him, you never got a chance to fight Xemnas, and you want to know who the _being _is. Maybe your mind is just playing tricks on you…?" he suggested.

Emily shook her head.

"I don't know, Sora. Everything seems pretty real to me." she said.

"It does seem strange though…" Kairi added. "I mean, what was the name of that one keyblader? The… receiver?" Sora nodded and Kairi continued. "Well, what if The Receiver _receives_ messages from the being? Like in dreams. Maybe like the ones Emily is having...?" Sora and Emily starred at her for a few minutes.

"I don't know." Sora said. "Maybe we should wait for the King's next letter to come before we start jumping to conclusions." Kairi and Emily nodded.

"I guess you're right." Kairi sighed. Sora put on a goofy grin as he said, "What are you talking about? I'm always right!"

Emily and Kairi both shook their heads.

"Your soup'll be ready soon." Kairi said to Emily as she stood up and went back to the stove.

"Go back to bed. Just because you don't have a fever anymore doesn't mean you're not sick." Sora said, pointing to the staircase. Emily rolled her eyes and did as she was told. She figured she should do what he told her, seeing as he finally listened to her. When she reached the top of the stairs she heard a banging coming from her room.

"Oh my gosh!" she cried, remembering Shelby was still locked in the room.

"I'm coming Shell! Hold on!" she shouted as she fiddled with the lock.

It clicked and she opened the door. Shelby was sitting on the ground, her face tear stained and red.

"I'm so sorry. I won't do it again, okay?" Emily said, sitting on the floor with her sister.

"You're a meanie." Shelby replied, and crossed her arms.

"Hey. That's no way for a doctor to treat her patient, is it?" Emily asked, trying to get her sister to cheer up.

"It is when their patients are meanies!" Shelby shouted angrily. Emily began to pretend to sob.

"Oh!" She dramatically wailed. "My doctor is yelling at me! I guess I'll have to find a new doctor to treat me! Oh! Whatever shall I do?" Emily flopped on her bed, still pretending to sob.

Emily peeked at her sister, who she could tell was trying to stifle giggles. Emily continued, making it even more dramatic.

"Fine." Shelby said, trying to keep a straight face. "As your doctor, I order you to sleep. Or at least until dinner comes." Emily laughed.

"Yes doctor." Emily was rather glad to sleep, because her headache was now gone, and she could feel her eyelids beginning to droop.

_Emily was falling through emptiness once more. _Not again. _She thought. She landed back in The World That Never Was. She sighed, knowing she was about to see something that had to do with this unknown girl. Her feet hit the wet ground, and she looked around. She had come back to the same alley where she had first encountered Xemnas speaking to the girl. Emily turned around and saw them once more. It seemed to Emily that not much time had passed since she last saw the two. Emily heard Xemnas comfort, well, _try _to comfort the girl._

_"Yes, yes. That is expected. You are strong and do not yet understand how to control your powers." He said in what was supposed to be gentle voice._

"_B--- but---" the girl stammered. Xemnas held a hand up to silence her._

"_Hush. Now for a name for you. Would you like to pick it out?" he asked. The girl shook her head, either in fear, or refusal (Emily wasn't sure)._

"_Alright then." Xemnas said, putting a shaky hand to his face. He stood and seemed to ponder a name for quite a long time. Emily considered sitting down, but she realized her pants would get wet from the rain on the ground._

"_Wait a minute." she said out loud. "This is a dream! I won't seriously get wet, will I?" She sat down against what her previous thoughts were._

_"I've got it." Xemnas finally said, and from what Emily could see, an evil flash entered his amber eyes._

"_From what I know of your previous name; yes, I will explain that later." Xemnas added, seeing the puzzled look on the girl's face. "I have rearranged the letters to spell out Diexsa."_

"_But there's no X in---" the girl now known as Diexsa was interrupted by Xemnas._

"_Yes, yes, I know. The X gets added in for added--- mystery. Or at least that's what it used to be for." he explained._

"_Now," he continued. "Let me explain what has happened to you."_

_Emily never got to hear Xemnas's story because her vision became distorted and everything around her began to twist and turn until it contorted itself into nothing. Emily felt herself once again, falling through the darkness._

Emily felt herself on her bed, and she felt very hot and sweaty again. She heard voices around her, but she could not open her eyes.

"I couldn't get her to stop!" came the sobbing voice of Shelby.

"Just calm down, Shell." Sora's voice said, reassuringly. "There you are. Is he coming?"

"Yea." answered Kairi's voice. Emily tried desperately to move, open her eyes, do something to show that she was fine. She wasn't sure how much longer she could take being underneith her blankets; she thought for sure she'd die of a heat stroke.

_Who's coming? What's wrong with me!? _Emily tried to shout, but her voice only rang in her head.

"She must've been sicker than we thought…" Kairi said, worryingly. Emily heard her door open, and another person entered the room.

"Did you knuckleheads even think to call a doctor?" it was Riku's voice this time.

"I'm the doctor!" Shelby protested.

"Sorry kiddo, but I don't think you qualify." was Riku's response.

"I guess we should've done that first, but we were so worried--- so--- so---" Kairi tried to search for the words.

"So you called me instead? Sorry guys, but I'm no good at--- doctor stuff." There was a long silence that followed. Emily wanted to know what was going on. Why couldn't she open her eyes, or give a sign that she was okay? And why wasn't Tidus there, too? He should have been told Emily was sick.

Emily tried with all of her strength to speak. _Take the blankets off! _But Emily realized that the shout was only inside her head. Then another thought entered her head. _If only I could call--- _Emily smiled internally when she felt the smooth handle of the key blade enter her hand. She heard the others gasp in surprise and hoped they took it as a sign that she was alright.

"Emmy died!" she heard Shelby begin crying hysterically.

"No--- I--- didn't." Emily heard herself say through gritted teeth. Emily felt full satisfaction in herself that she had managed to speak out loud at last. She tried again and said, "I'm dying. Take this blanket off of me." She soon felt the cool air hit her skin, and she began to feel better. Emily dismissed her key blade and pried her eyes open. The amount of light that entered them made her want to close them again, but she resisted the urge.

She sat up, but was pushed back down by Riku.

"Wha---" Emily said, confused.

"You should rest." he answered. "From what Sora and Kairi tell me, it sounds like you had a fit while you were sleeping." Emily looked around the room. She noticed that everyone's faces were white, or very pale.

"I had another dream." Emily said, eager to tell of her latest encounter with the girl--- or "Diexsa" as she was now known.

"Whatever it was, I'm sure it can wait." Riku told her. He turned to Sora and asked quietly, as though he didn't want Emily to hear, "Are you gonna tell your parents? Who knows, this could be serious..."

Sora looked over at Emily before saying, "I probably should." Emily gaped at him before jumping up and arguing, "No! What if Mom and Dad make me go to the doctor's!? What if I have to miss out on the new adventure!? I don't wanna let the King down!" Everyone was starring, but none of the looks were as hurtful looking as Shelby's.

"You're--- you guys are leaving--- again?" She asked, her little voice quavering.

"Nice one Em." Sora said, glaring at her. Emily mentally smacked herself in the forehead.

"Shelby," Sora started, but she interrupted him.

"No! Just--- go away!" And with that, Shelby ran out of the room and slammed the door. Sora sighed.

"Great." he said, as he followed Shelby's path.

"Emily---" Kairi said. Emily turned to look at her, the tears already welling up in her eyes. She would never forget the look her sister had given her.

"What if--- whatever you have--- what if it's serious? I think Sora's right. Your parents should know. I mean--- you've been having hallucinations that you think are dreams about the "being". It's--- you're scaring me Em. I know what I said before, but--- I just don't know..." Kairi left the room too, leaving Emily alone with Riku.

"You've--- been having dreams?" Riku asked, his face contorted into a look of high confusion. Emily sighed and replied, "Yes, do you want me to tell you about them? Or do you think I'm crazy too?"

"Go 'head and tell away. I wanna hear this." Riku said, sitting on Shelby's bed. Emily then delved into her dreams starting with the very first ones, all the way down to the one she just had.

"Diexsa. Interesting choice. I wonder what her name used to be… let's see. Take out the X and you're left with D, I, E, S, and A. I wonder what it used to spell?" Riku sat pondering his idea.

"What are you talking about?" Emily questioned, confused.

"The organization. They take a nobody's somebody name, and rearrange the letters in it to spell something else. And they add an X to it too." Riku explained. "Know any names that have the letters D, I, E, S, and A in them?" he asked.

Emily was sure she knew some, but she didn't want to think. Her head had started pounding again.

"So---" she asked, closing her eyes so the light wouldn't be so bright. "Do you believe me?"

"Well," Riku started. "With all the crazy things that have happened in the past, I'd say, yes. I believe you." Riku half laughed when he said the next part. "Hey, if giant animals can talk, who's to say that you can't have dreams about a "being"?"

"I suppose you're right." Emily sighed.

"What are you talking about?" Riku asked. Emily opened her eyes and looked at him.

"Huh?" she asked.

"I'm always right!" Riku said, wearing what looked like one of Sora's goofy grins.

"You sound just like Sora." Emily said, returning the grin back. Just then the door opened, and Sora and Kairi reentered the room.

"It's official." Sora said, in the most depressing voice Emily had ever heard him use.

"What is?" Emily asked, worried.

"Shelby hates us now." Sora answered.

"How so?" Emily questioned once more. Sora gave her a look before continuing. "Since, _someone_, let slip that we're probably going to go away again, Shelby refuses to talk to me."

"Maybe--- maybe she'll forget about it…?" Emily suggested, but she knew that in fact, her sister would probably never forget that moment.

"Yea. And pigs will fly." was Sora's response. Emily would have said that pigs probably could fly, but she knew that Sora was in one of his "serious" moods, and she didn't want to annoy him.

"Come on, man." Riku said, to Emily's surprise, in her defense. Sora was apparently surprised as well because he said, "What!?"

"Just---" Riku continued. "Just relax a little. It was an accident. Maybe it was destiny that Shelby found out. These are the - _Destiny - _Islands after all."

Sora sighed before replying, "I guess you're right. I feel horrible though. We were going to wait before telling our parents that we might be leaving again. But now that Shelby knows, she'll tell them if we don't."

"He's right. Shell's a blabber mouth." Emily added. The group sat in silence until Riku decided to break it.

"Hey! I've got an idea!"

"And what's that?" Sora asked.

"How about we all go to the island? Not just us four, but bring the others as well? What do ya say?" Riku asked.

"But--- I'm---" Emily stuttered.

"The sea air could make you feel better. It had amazing effects on my grandmother once..." Riku said.

"Okay," Emily replied, not so sure she believed him.

Before going, Emily decided that she should get some more rest, and when everyone had left her room, Riku stayed behind and asked Emily if it was alright if he told Kairi and Sora about Emily's latest dream. Emily told him it was okay with her because they would actually listen to him. After an hour or two, Sora woke Emily up and told her to get ready. When Emily questioned him about Shelby, Sora told her that their Aunt offered to take her. Emily grabbed everything she'd need, and headed downstairs, hoping that Riku was right in saying that the sea air would make her feel better. She was tired of waking up sweaty, and now she feared that she would wake up unable to move or communicate again, although she knew that her key blade would still come to her.

While walking past her dresser to do a quick hair check in the attached mirror, she noticed the watch necklace that stopped time was lying on it, covered in dust. She decided to bring it with her. She didn't know what made her do it, it was just a gut feeling she had. For some reason she felt as though it would be of some use later.

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**A/N: how was it? Any guesses as to what Diexsa's somebody name was? well, naturally you're not going to find out until the end of the story, but, that's life. anyway, leave questions, comments, and all that jazz in a review. **


	5. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer- don't own.**

**A/N- hola. here i am agian with chapter 4. sorry, but there's no explanation yet as to why Emily couldn't move in the last chapter, but don't worry. it'll come soon enough. ;) i promise. with out further adu, capitulo cuatro****

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Chapter 4

"Come on Em! Could you possibly go any slower?" Sora's voice came from downstairs.

"Coming!" Emily shouted back, quickly hooking the watch around her neck, and hiding it under her shirt. She picked up her bag and ran down the stairs, and saw that the group was waiting on her.

"About time." Riku said, grinning. Emily gave him a look and asked, "Where's Tidus and everyone else?"

"We're meeting them there." Kairi explained. Emily nodded, and the group began making its way to the docks that held the boats.

Upon arrival, they saw that two of the other boats were already gone, meaning that the others were either on their way to the island, or already there.

"Well, let's go." Sora said, untying the other two boats. Kairi climbed in with Sora, and Emily and Riku took the other boat. After rowing for five minutes or so, Emily tried to make conversation by saying, "So--- I don't know why, but I had the feeling that I should bring my stop watch, or time watch. Which ever…"

Riku eyed her curiously as he asked, "Why exactly?" Emily shrugged her shoulders and said, "I don't know really. Just--- a feeling I had is all."

"Hmm…" was Riku's only response.

"So, what was that all about--- with you not being able to move or talk?" Riku suddenly asked.

"Huh? Oh, I--- don't know. It was really weird though. It was like--- something was holding me there. I honestly don't even know how to describe it." Emily explained, or rather, tried to explain.

"Well, whatever it was--- it sure scared the heck out of everyone. When Kairi called her voice was shaking. They all seemed pretty shaken up." Riku said.

"Hopefully it doesn't happen again…" Emily replied. As they approached the island, Emily could see two figures sitting on the dock, and one standing.

"Tidus!" Emily shouted, knowing it was him. He waved back. When they were far enough in shallow water, Emily jumped out, and ran to the shore, only to be caught by Tidus, and swung around off her feet. She laughed.

"It's good to see you too." she said, hugging him when he set her down.

"Haven't seen you forever!" Tidus said, returning the hug. "How've you been?"

"I've been better actually--- I had… a cold or something." Emily said, not wanting to tell him all the details. She couldn't bare to tell him she had been practically paralyzed by some dark force.

"Well, at least you're well enough to come." Tidus told her. "But, uh---" he continued. "I don't think your clothes being wet is going to help you get over your cold."

"Probably not." Emily laughed. She hugged him again.

"Enough already. You don't see me and Kairi hugging every two minutes, do you? Control yourselves, honestly." Sora's sarcastic voice came from behind them. Emily and Tidus let go of each other almost instantly, although Tidus managed to slip his hand into Emily's. Emily turned to glare at Sora, and saw that he was shaking his head. Kairi was creeping behind Sora, and motioned for Emily to keep quiet about it. Kairi hugged Sora from behind (causing Sora to jump about a foot into the air) and laughed as she said, "Life would be more fun if we did!"

Sora's face turned a deep shade of red before he said, "You're right."

"Enough with the love fest already!" Riku yelled from the dock. Emily turned towards him and saw that Selphie and Wakka had no problem showing their affection for each other, because there they stood, lips locked in an apparently very good kiss. When Riku walked passed them, he picked Wakka's blitz ball off of the dock, and tossed it at Wakka's head. Wakka jumped and yelled, "Hey! What was that for!?" Emily laughed along with the others as Wakka rubbed the spot where the ball had hit him.

"Any one want to spar?" Sora asked after the group had been sitting in the sand for quite a while. Everyone but Selphie and Wakka answered with a yes. Emily stood up, and turned to Tidus, who, instead of standing, was still sitting.

"What're you doing? Don't you wanna sword fight?" Emily offered her hand. Tidus looked out over the ocean.

"It wouldn't be fair." he replied. Emily rolled her eyes.

"Just because I'm a girl who happens to be your girl friend, doesn't mean---" but she was interrupted by Tidus.

"I meant for me." he grinned. Emily laughed.

"I'll go easy on you. Besides," she said. "I brought my wooden sword just in case." She stuck out her hand once more, and Tidus took it.

"Okay… if you say so." he said with another grin.

Emily ran over to her bag, grabbed her wooden sword, and when she got back, she saw Sora and Riku battling it out, just like old times. Only they now each held a powerful weapon of light; a key blade. Kairi sat offering her own advice, yelling, "Sora! On your left!" and "No, Riku! No magic!" Riku cast the stop magic on Kairi, and Emily laughed.

"Hey!" Kairi shouted, kicking sand at Riku's legs once she regained movement.

"C'mon Em! I'm growing old here!" Tidus yelled.

Emily ran over and she and Tidus got into fighting stances, which now felt natural to Emily. The muscle she had gained from her previous adventure had not disappeared, rather, it had gotten stronger. She had been practicing with Sora, Riku, and Kairi on key blade techniques. Emily could blow a five part combo attack before you could even shout "Ready, set, go!". Her Nesnex attack had gotten improvement as well. Just about the only thing Emily couldn't do as well as the others was magic. In fact, she couldn't do it at all. Riku had told her that you could either perform it, get a key blade key chain that allowed for stronger magic, or you couldn't do it at all. Emily tried, but nothing ever happened.

"Go!" Tidus shouted. Emily took offence first off, and had Tidus blocking as fast as she was swinging. Emily began going through an easy, two chain combo attack, just to get herself and Tidus warmed up. Tidus deflected her easily, but Emily wouldn't let him take over the fight. She began chaining longer and longer combo attacks at Tidus, until finally, she struck him. He dropped his blade, and fell over, the wind knocked out of him. In one swift movement, Emily kicked his sword away, put her foot on his chest, and threw her sword three inches away from his neck, driving it a good four inches into the sand.

Emily knelt on her knees, catching her breath.

"You okay?" she asked him. Tidus shook his head, but grinned, so Emily knew he'd be fine. Just then, Tidus pushed her down, and had her pinned, her sword in his hand, holding it over her chest.

"Wha--- Hey! Cheater!" she yelled, laughing.

"Never let the enemy have an advantage over you. Otherwise, this is what happens." Tidus said, a wicked grin across his face.

"What--- you pop out of the floor and tackle me?" Emily asked, laughing.

"Not what I meant. I mean--- don't get close to the enemy, even if you think they're dead, or unconscious. They could take advantage of you." Tidus said, seriously.

"I know that silly." Emily said, struggling to get up, but Tidus was too strong, and Emily was forced to give up. Tidus finally decided to get off of her, and they watched Riku and Sora battle it out to the death. They were both very skilled at keyblading.

"No actual killing each other guys," Emily shouted as Riku struck Sora with a gravity spell and Sora got squashed to the ground. After a few seconds of waddling around, Sora popped back to regular proportions. He took a swing at Riku, but Riku was faster than he was, and blocked him while getting in a hit of his own.

"How 'bout you two just call it a draw?" Kairi asked. Both boys stopped and looked at her like she was crazy.

"What," Riku said. "And let Sora here think that he's better than me?" Sora glared at Riku and tried to hit him, but Riku blocked him yet again. Sora let out a roar of frustration.

"Obviously you aren't going to beat him, Sora." Emily said. "How bout we try two against one?" Emily called her key blade, and she stood next to her brother and returned to fighting stance.

"Make that three." Kairi said, calling her blade too.

"Time for a key blade war!" Tidus shouted. "Hey Wakka, Selphie, you two wanna watch the show?" Wakka and Selphie came and sat next to Tidus and the three of them waited for the show to begin. Riku laughed and said, "Piece of cake. I've dealt with far worse." Riku motioned for the three to "bring it on". And with that, it began. It went like clockwork. Sora used magic; he was the best out of the three. And Kairi and Emily switched from offense to defense accordingly. While Kairi would block Riku's attacks, Emily would try and get a few strikes on him. She managed to scratch his legs a few times, but she really couldn't do more than that.

"Are you guys even seriously trying?" Riku asked, pretending to yawn form boredom. Suddenly, Emily had a plan. She grabbed Kairi and Sora's arms before either of them could say "Hey, what are you doing?" and she waved her hand, causing time to stop.

"Hey! What---" Sora yelled in confusion. Riku's motionless face had wide-eyes, as if he was going to ask what Emily was doing too.

"Okay." Emily said, calling the other two over. "When I start time up again," Emily explained. "Here's what we're gonna do. Since Kairi here's the only other person who can cast magic, she's going to have that task. Cast whatever you want, just don't hurt us. Sora, you take on offence because you're our best fighter, and I'll do defence. Got it?" Sora and Kairi nodded their heads, and got into their positions.

"Ready?" Emily asked, preparing to wave her arm. Everyone nodded, and Emily restarted time.

"Fire!" Kairi shouted, and balls of fire went streaking towards Riku.

"Hey--- wha--- whoa!" Riku said dodging the flames by an inch. Sora ran towards Riku, no doubt getting ready to perform a combo attack, but Riku saw it coming. He slashed his key blade, but Emily got there faster, and blocked him. Sora did what looked like the strike raid, and hit Riku square on. Riku fell to the sand and said, "Okay, okay, you guys win."

"Sorry," Sora said, grinning. "I didn't hear that. Could you say it a bit louder?" Riku rolled his eyes and shouted, "You win!"

"And that's what I like to hear!" Sora said, offering his hand to help Riku up. Once Riku had dusted the sand from his pants he asked, "Anyone need a cure spell?" Emily looked herself over and didn't see anything that needed serious attention.

"Not me." She said. Everyone else shook their heads as well and Riku said, "Suit yourselves." And he cured himself.

Emily went to sit down next to Tidus to catch her breath.

"Very nice." he said, putting his arm around her shoulder.

"Thanks. I can only try." Emily laughed. Emily took Tidus's arm off of her so she could lay down, and he didn't seem to mind because he stood up and went to the water's edge.

"What's this?" he questioned, holding something in his hand.

"What's what?" Emily asked, getting up to go look at whatever Tidus was holding.

"A message in a bottle." Tidus said showing it to her. Emily gasped and quickly said, "Gimme that!"

Emily recognized it right away as a message from the king. She saw his seal on the small piece of paper. She couldn't possibly let Tidus see it. He'd be devastated to learn that Emily was leaving again. Tidus however saw it as a chance to tease Emily. He held it high above his head so she couldn't reach.

"C'mon! This isn't funny Tidus!" Emily said, jumping for it.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Is this what you want?" Tidus said, uncorking the bottle and taking the paper out slowly. By this time, Emily's heart was pounding at the thought of Tidus reading It.

"Give it!" she yelled at him. Tidus waved the paper in front of her, but drew it back when Emily made a grab for it.

"Geez Tidus, just give her it already." came Sora's voice. When Emily turned to look at her brother, Tidus saw it as an opportunity to read the paper, after all, why wouldn't Emily let him see it? Emily turned back around only to see the awe struck face of Tidus. Emily took it from his hand.

"You--- you're leaving again, aren't you?" he asked, a deep hurt in his voice.

"Tidus---" Emily said, putting her hand on his shoulder, but he pushed it away.

"No." he said forcefully. "Not again, I won't let you! I don't wanna loose you again Em! It nearly killed me the first time!" he yelled at her. Emily looked at him in shock. She never expected him to get angry.

"I--- I---" she stuttered, but Tidus held up a hand. He didn't say a word as he walked away. Emily felt a hand on her shoulder, and turned to see Kairi.

"Give him time to cool off. In the meantime, let's read the letter…?" she asked. Emily nodded, and looked at Tidus, who was kicking sand as he walked to the dock.

"From the King?" Sora asked, he and Riku joining Kairi and Emily. They nodded.

"Wait, wait, wait…" came Wakka's voice.

"You're all leaving? --- Again?" Selphie asked.

"It seems that way, doesn't it." Riku said as though he was tired of everyone asking. Wakka and Selphie gave the group sad looks as they walked off to join Tidus.

"Looks like they care more about a few animals than they care about their best friends." Wakka said quietly. Emily felt like she could cry. Her little sister hated them, they were going to have to tell their parents who would be devistated, and now their best friends and Emily's boyfriend were all mad at them.

"Come on Em. Don't pay attention to them. They just don't get it." Riku said. Emily looked at him, the tears welling up in her eyes.

"How can you even say that? Don't our friends deserve to know--- everything? I mean--- we've known them the longest, yet here we are. Leaving them again, not giving a full explanation as to why."

Emily couldn't hold the tears back any longer, and they began to fall down her face. She couldn't understand why everything seemed to be affecting her, and why no one else seemed to be having as many problems. First, Emily started having weird dreams about a girl she didn't even know, and then she got paralyzed after a dream with out a reason. Then she started seeing people who were supposed to be dead, then her little sister hated her for leaving, then Tidus got mad at her because she's leaving. The rest of the group hadn't had any dreams as far as Emily knew, and hadn't seen anyone believed to be dead. They didn't even seem to care that their best friends were all mad. What was going on?

"If you're not going to read the letter, let me do it." Sora said. Emily handed it to him and sighed as she wiped the tears from her eyes. Sora unfolded the letter, and began to read.

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**A/N- what did ya think? tell me in a review por favor.**


	6. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: don't own**

**A/N: sorry about this chapter's shortness. Future chapters will be longer. I promise. :) ****

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Chapter 5

"Dear Everyone," Sora began. "I have found out more information on the being. I've searched Ansem's computer for more data and came across this. This being, along with the help of the five key wielders and the sixth person, the being will be able to close the door to light for good. The being needs the light _and_ darkness from the key blades to close the door, and one person to make sure the door gets locked from the inside as well. That person will never be able to return into the realm of light. The person will...welp, die.

The being, as I've told you before, does not know that he or she _is _the being. So this will make it difficult to find them. Along with many other unknown powers, the being can give artificial hearts to those with out them. Not a true heart, but a small amount of sensory of emotions will be present. This is useful, because the being can give otherwise completely lifeless bodies life. In other words, the being can bring dead people back. But there is a limit. Such power can only give life to ten people. Anymore and the being would simply put its whole self into the last body it re-incarnates. The being would die, and the worlds would wait for another being to take its place.

The being has 100 percent control over the powers of light, and the powers of darkness. The being can control key blade powers as well as it can control heartless and dusks. We can no longer waste time. I've sent a Gummi ship to get you. It should arrive in three days time. Your first trip will be to Radient Garden. Until then, you may forewarn your family and friends. Please look for anything suspicious. Donald and Max will be driving the Gummi ship. Goofy's with me for the time being. Oh! Max is Goofy's son by the way. He's a little older than Riku. See you soon, and take care.

His Majesty,

King Mickey."

Sora finished reading.

"So it is true." said a voice from behind them. When Emily turned, she never expected to see their parents on the island. They hardly ever came over; this was the kid's place after all.

"Mom? What are you---" Emily began to ask, but saw her father and Mark joining her mother. From behind her mother's legs, peeked Shelby, an angry look in her eyes.

"Told you, Mama. They don't wanna stay with us. They want to leave again!" Shelby practically shouted. Mark gave them a sad stare, and crossed his arms. Their father said nothing, the look of hurt in his eyes said everything he needed to say. Their mother had the same look. She sighed before she laid a hand on Emily and Sora's shoulders.

"If this is what you must do, then do it. I may not know as much about hearts as you four, but I know this from what I've learned from you. You cannot deny a heart's true purpose. And if this is what your hearts' purposes are, then so be it. Don't take this the wrong way. I'm not happy nor am I pleased that you're leaving again. To the contrary. But I am allowing you to leave. But if I get word that any of you are hurt, I will be very disappointed."

Their mother stared at her children before finally letting go of them.

"Mom?" Emily said, taking her mother's hand. Her mother said nothing, but she looked her in the eyes. "We won't disappoint you. That's a promise." She gave her mother a tight hug. Her mother hugged her back and said so that only Emily could hear, "You better go talk to Tidus. He looked pretty upset when we were walking passed him." Emily nodded and she and her mother let go of each other.

"Okay." Emily said, looking back at her parents as she began walking. She heard her mother say, "You two had better tell your parents. I will if you don't." After walking for a minute or so, Emily saw Tidus sitting on the dock, throwing rocks, rather aggressively, into the water, creating mighty _ker-plunks_. Emily slowly sat down next to him, but he didn't acknowledge her presence. Emily looked around for any sign of Wakka and Selphie, but didn't see them anywhere. She figured they must've left.

"Tidus--- I---" Emily said, but Tidus interrupted.

"Save your breath." he said, rather rudely. Emily tried not to let him get to her, she knew she had to be strong. She couldn't admit defeat.

"Tidus--- Just--- listen!" Emily was falling fast. Her plan wasn't working. Tidus knew how to get to her, and he knew he did.

"Why!?" Tidus shouted at her, standing up. He continued in a mocking voice, " 'Tidus. Don't worry. I have a real blade now, and I can fight. It doesn't matter that you think I might get hurt, I'm thick headed and think I can't be defeated.' "

Emily couldn't hold back her feelings. She let the tears spill out of her eyes. Tears not only of sadness, but of frustration that Tidus couldn't and _wouldn't_ understand. He didn't know what it was like, and he was too stubborn to admit that he didn't know. Emily stood up, and said in as steady of a voice as she could.

"Tidus. That is not how I am, and you know it. I know that you're upset---"

"Upset!? Yes! Of course I am! Now you finally get it!?" Tidus yelled in her face. Emily paused, not sure what to say.

"Forget it." Tidus said, turning to walk away. Emily grabbed his shoulder, and he turned.

"Tidus," Emily said, voice shaking. "I _love_ you. But right now, you---" Emily stopped, afraid of what his reaction might be. Tidus began to speak, but it wasn't the three words Emily expected to hear, "I what?"

"You're scaring me." Emily finished. It was true. He had never yelled at her. They had had their fare share of disagreements, but he had never raised his voice at her. She understood that he was angry, but she had never expected him to act that angrily. Tidus looked at her, and began to walk away again.

He stopped suddenly, and turned back around to say something, but Emily wouldn't let him.

"If we want this relationship to work, we have to learn to forgive each other, and to accept what is going to happen. I'm going. I've made up my mind. If it means saving the world--- if it means saving you--- I'm going. I don't wanna live in a world where darkness threatens it. I don't know about you Tidus, but if you can't accept me for what I am, a Keyblade wielder, then fine. But at least I can accept and forgive you for what you did. You screamed in my face, and yet here I am. Forgiving you. If this relationship is going to go anywhere, it's your turn to accept, and forgive me." Emily waited for his response.

Tidus stood for a second, not moving or showing any sign that he was going to say a word. He didn't look Emily in the eyes when he finally spoke, "Then maybe---" he paused. "Maybe this relationship isn't supposed to work. I can't deal with the fact that there's a possibility of you getting hurt or--- or--- worse. I don't think that this--- you and I--- I don't think it's going to work anymore. I--- I'm--- sorry." And with that, he walked away, and Emily didn't follow. She wanted to, but she knew it'd be useless.

Emily sat down, the shock of what had just happened hitting her. She cried silently as she watched Tidus row back to the main island. She felt someone sit down next to her, and she felt their arm go across her back and put their hand on her shoulder.

"We heard what was going on. I think everyone did." It was Riku. Emily said nothing, hot streams of tears still pouring from her eyes. She sat with him as the sun set. They didn't talk, there really wasn't anything either one of them could say. And Emily liked it this way. She didn't want to talk about it, not yet anyway.

As the stars began to become visible, two pairs of foot steps came from behind them.

"We--- should go." It was Sora. Emily stood, along with Riku. Emily wiped her eyes and turned around, looking at her feet, not wanting to talk to anyone.

"Sora?" Kairi asked.

"Hmm?" Sora replied. Kairi continued, "I'll ride with Em, if that's okay."

"Fine with me." Sora answered.

"Come on, Em." Kairi said, leading Emily to one of the little boats.

After they rowed out of earshot of Riku and Sora, Kairi said, "You know Em. Tidus really does care about you. He was just--- being stupid. I'm sure Tidus lov---"

"No! You didn't see the look in his eyes! You didn't see--- Look. Can we not talk about it anymore?" Emily asked, holding her head in her hand. Kairi nodded. It remained that way for the rest of the boat ride.

After Riku and Kairi headed to their houses, Sora and Emily walked to their house.

"So--- uhh---" Sora said. "What's up with--- well, you know."

"Nothing. Nothing's up." Emily said defensively.

"Okay, okay." Sora said. "I was just trying to---"

"To what!? Help? Why can't anyone understand that I don't wanna talk about it?" Emily walked faster so she could get away. She didn't wanna talk about what had happened because she couldn't even accept it herself. Her mind kept telling her to call Tidus, so they could talk it out, just like they did every other time they had an argument. But then she had to remember that there wouldn't be a point. She and Tidus were over. But her mind wouldn't let her give him up.

"I'm sorry Em. These things happen. Look, you're my little sister, and I don't want you to get hurt. That's all." Sora said from behind her. Emily stopped.

"I'm sorry too." She sighed. "I shouldn't have blown up at you like that."

"It's okay. I'll allow it this once." Sora said, his goofy grin spread across his face. Emily rolled her eyes. When they finally got home, their parents were sitting in their kitchen. They were talking in whispers, but when Sora and Emily started going up the stairs, they stopped.

"How long 'till you leave?" their father asked.

"Two days." Sora and Emily answered simultaneously. But that was all their father said, and their mother only nodded. As Emily went to open her bedroom door, she said to Sora, "Thanks."

"For what?" Sora asked, turning to look at her.

"For caring." Emily opened her door, and flopped on her bed. If Shelby was awake, she didn't say anything. She was bundled up under her covers.

Emily laid on her bed, and cried into her pillow for what seemed like an eternity. She eventually fell into a deep sleep in which she began to fall into darkness.

_Here we go. _She thought as she landed in a familiar room.

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**A/N: reviews? sorry i had to break up Emily and Tidus. :'( **

**it made me sad. But on a lighter note, i saw SpiderMan 3 this weekend. :D happy happy joy joy. Very good. It might've been a little long, but still good none the less.**


	7. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: don't own**

**A/N: sorry for the shortness of this chapter. I know i said future chapter would be longer... but that didn't count for this one! ;) Any ways... get to readin'! ****

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Chapter 6

Instead of the familiar street Emily had landed in before, Emily was standing in a very familiar room.

"Proof of Existence." Emily said aloud to herself. Emily looked around and saw that all of the stones were crumbled, and the plates before them were glowing a blood red color. All except for one. Xemnas's. His was glowing blue, but very faintly.

"Child. Your power. Not only can you do what you did in the street," it was Xemnas's voice. "But you can give life back to those without it." he continued. Emily turned and saw little Diexsa and Xemnas enter the room. Diexsa was clinging to Xemnas's cloak, although he didn't seem to mind.

"You mean," she said softly. "I can bring dead people back--- back to life?" She sounded unsure of herself. Xemnas nodded.

"Yes child." he said, stopping in front of one of the head stones. Emily moved towards the two of them to get a look at which number it was. Emily gasped when she saw it.

"Number eight." she whispered as though Xemnas might hear her. "Axel."

"Number VIII, Axel." Xemnas repeated. Diexsa just looked at the stone, not knowing what to do. She looked at Xemnas for help. Xemnas took a deep breath and began to explain.

"To reactivate a heart, or in this case, an empty shell, you must reach inside your own heart. You didn't die like most people, Diexsa. Those black creatures that were chasing you, they are called 'heartless'. They steal living people's hearts to try and get them for themselves. You, you still have your heart. It is not a heart in the sense of what you are probably thinking. No. Your heart is that of darkness, and light. I will not go in depth, for being a mere child, there's no way that you will understand or even begin to fathom this concept.

"Now. Take your dominant hand, yes that one." Diexsa held her right hand out over the stone and glowing red plate.

"Now kneel down. Good." Xemnas continued. "Close your eyes, and locate that power you showed me in the street. Careful; remember. You are the only one who can control that power. Do not let it take over you. I know that this is going to make absolutely no sense, but place your arm into the stone. But first, feel the power of both the light, and the darkness travel through your arm. Yes, that's it."

Diexsa's arm began to glow, and at the same time, feathers of darkness came off of it. Diexsa did as she was told, and Emily watched in awe as every law of physics that she knew were broken. Instead of colliding with the solid mass of stone, Diexsa's arm passed right into it.

"Now," but Xemnas didn't have to instruct the little girl what to do. Diexsa said to him, "I know what to do." Her eyes opened. Both of her eyes were glowing an eerie yellow. One eye surrounded by white, the other black.

Emily felt a chill run down her spine. The little girl stood up, and a ball of light began to engulf her, yet it was different than the last time it had happened. Diexsa seemed to know how to control it. She didn't let the ball grow bigger than three feet in diameter. As soon as it began however, it was over. Diexsa collapsed to her knees, and panted hard. Her eyes had lost their glow.

"Very good." Xemnas said, clapping slowly, an evil grin spread across his face.

"Now," he continued. "Axel was only our test, I didn't want to waste such power on a more--- cooperative member. I'll let the dusks have their fun with him."

"Oh, no." Said an all too familiar voice. In the back of the room, stood Axel. Just as Emily had remembered him. She stared awe-struck. _How is this even possible_? Emily thought, not able to comprehend what had happened.

"Silence." Xemnas said, lazily waving his hand. Axel shook his head.

"I'm leaving! I'm through with you and the whole Organization! Got it memorized!?" Axel said, opening a portal.

"No! You'll do no such thing." Xemnas demanded. Axel had already opened a portal, and Xemnas released one of his weapons, which happened to be a red laser of some sort. Axel's portal closed a spilt second before the red beam of light smashed through the wall behind it.

"Damn… that fool will pay." Xemnas said shakily. It was clear to Emily that Xemnas was very weak. If this was the same Xemnas that Emily had grown accustomed to during her stay with the Organization, he had lost most of his energy and power.

Diexsa sat, looking scared, and looking as though she didn't believe what she had just done.

"Diexsa," Xemnas said, opening a portal of his own. "I will be back. I must alert the dusks, and tell them to be on the look out for a run away Organization member. You have done well today. While I'm away, I want you to look at these stones. Numbers II, VII, IX, X, XI, and XII. Do not bring these members back to life, just--- take a look and determine how much power it'll take to bring each of them back." Diexsa nodded at Xemnas's words, and Xemnas's portal disappeared.

As soon as he left, Emily figured the dream would soon end, but it didn't. Instead of doing what she was told, Diexsa walked up right to Emily's face. Emily's heart began to beat very rapidly. _She can't actually see me, can she? I mean, after all, this is _my _dream. _Emily thought. Emily's thought was about to come true.

"Who are you? I've seen you watching me before. I've felt your--- presence before. Do you--- do you know who I am?" Diexsa asked. Emily looked around, to see if it was possible if Diexsa was talking to some hidden person in the room.

"I--- are you talking to me?" Emily asked, flabbergasted. Diexsa nodded.

"Uh---" Emily said, trying to think of something to say.

"I tried to grab you the last time. Not with my arm of course, but--- I don't even know. With my brain, maybe..." Diexsa continued, as if she didn't find it strange that she saw Emily while Xemnas didn't.

"You mean--- you're the reason I couldn't move the last time I woke up?" Emily asked.

Diexsa gave her a confused look.

"Last time you--- woke up?" she asked. Emily nodded.

"I thought you were--- fading away. At least, that's what it looked like to me." Diexsa explained. "So I grabbed what I thought was your hand with my mind. But I guess I grabbed your--- what's the word? Consciousness? I had to let go because it began to hurt me. I think I was using too much of my own power."

"Well, what you did--- it scared me. I couldn't move. It scared my friends too. Please promise you won't do that again." Emily pleaded. Diexsa nodded, but suddenly said in a scared voice.

"You need to go. Xemnas is coming back, I can If he sees me talking to you---" Emily nodded.

"I know this is going to sound strange, but" Emily said, shifting her feet. "You need to let me go. Let me drift from your mind." Diexsa smiled, and giggled when she said, "Believe me, that makes just as much sense as anything else around here."

Emily smiled at her, and stepped back, as the room began to shift in and out of vision. She saw Diexsa give her a small wave.

"I talked to--- her. This is all so strange." Emily said to herself, and she fell through the darkness.

**_8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8_**

She hit her pillow, and woke up instantly. She had to tell Sora--- she had to tell everyone!

"I should tell---" She began excitedly, but her face instantly fell. "Tidus." She remembered painfully what had happened the previous day. She lost all the excitement she'd had, and flopped back on her bed.

She groaned, no longer wanting to "get up and greet the day", as they say. Emily tried to go back to sleep, but her mind wouldn't let her because it was too busy repeating the events that had happened in her dream. Emily looked over at her sister's bed, expecting to see Shelby sleeping, but all she saw were messy blankets strewn about the bed. Emily huffed and pulled her own covers over her head. As she tried to calm down her racing mind, she heard a knock at her door.

"Who is it?" she asked rather irritably.

"Sora." came his muffled response. Emily waited for him to tell her why he was there, but he remained silent.

"Well.. Is there a reason for you being out side my door?" Emily asked.

"There's--- there's someone here." Sora said, sounding confused, serious, and awe struck all at the same time. _Tidus!? _Was Emily's immediate thought. _Maybe he's come to apologize! _Emily threw her blankets off, and changed into a T-shirt and jeans as fast as she could. She ran her comb through her hair several times, just enough to get the big knots out.

"Coming!" she said, swinging the door open. Sora jumped back when she did this because he wasn't expecting the door to move so quickly.

"So… who's---" Emily started to ask, but didn't need to. In her front door way stood a very familiar spiky, red-haired man.

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**A/N: gasp! who could this mysterious red-haired man be!? lol again, sorry for the shortness. Reviews?**


	8. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: don't own.**

**A/N: i hope this chapter makes up for the long time intervals between updates. This took up 13 pages on microsoft word. :) **

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Chapter 7

Emily stood staring at her old friend, who she had just seen in her dream. Only, now he was standing there in person. He looked pretty much the same. Black organization cloak along with the matching boots and gloves, red, spikey hair, and even the little green tattoos under his eyes were there. Axel gave her a small wave.

"Long time no see, Xen--- Emily." he corrected himself.

Emily stared for a minute longer, before running up to him and giving him a tight hug. She knew all to well his policy on embracing, but she didn't care right now. Axel patted her on the back uncomfortably, but he didn't object her hug. Emily let go after about another thirty seconds.

"I thought you were--- gone. But then--- the dream! And the girl--- and the coming back to life! I didn't believe--- but now--- you're--- here! And-- it all really happened, didn't it!?" Emily said, quickly and excitedly. Axel (along with Sora) gave her a questioning look.

"You okay, Em?" Sora asked, cocking his eyebrow. Emily nodded.

"I had another dream. I'll explain later." Emily said at the strange look she got from Axel. "I saw the girl--- Diexsa--" Emily was interrupted.

"How do you know about her?" Axel asked.

"Long story, but I've been having dreams about her for awhile now. But I saw her bring you back. And I know the others that are coming back as well!" Emily said excitedly.

"Huh?" Sora asked dumbly.

Emily sighed as she motioned for the two to follow her into the kitchen so they could all sit down. Emily then explained her story to Axel, and explained the previous dream to Sora.

"So are you gonna tell me who else Xemnas is planning to bring back?" Axel asked, after about an hour of listening to Emily.

"Oh yea!" she said, almost forgetting that that was what she wanted to tell.

"Let's see if I can remember all the numbers. There were six of them. Numbers…two, seven, nine, ten, eleven, and twelve." Emily waited for Axel to tell her their names, as she had long forgotten who each member was.

"So that's Xigbar, Saïx, Demyx, Luxord, Marluxia, and Larxene. I can see why he'd want all of them but Demyx back. I mean, honestly, that kid was a waste to the Organization. Poor kid, Xemnas is probably planning to use him as a decoy or something." Axel said, not really looking sad at all.

"But you said," Axel continued. "That the 'being' can bring back ten people. Including me, that's only seven… wonder what he's planning to do with the other three?"

"Probably for a security blanket." Sora spoke up. "You know, incase Xemnas dies or something. He'll keep the other three for himself."

"Sounds like something he'd do." Emily commented. Axel nodded in agreement. There was a long silence that followed, but Axel decided to break it.

"So--- how's Roxas?" He said, shifting his eyes. Sora jumped at the sound of his voice.

"What? Oh. He's doing fine. I suppose he's as good as I am, seeing as… well, he's me." Sora answered.

"So you never actually _see_ him?" Axel asked, sounding a little let down.

"Nope." Sora shook his head. "I talk to him all the time though."

Axel's eyes seemed to light up.

"Can he hear other people talk to him, or just you?" he asked.

"I'm not actually sure. Hang on, I'll ask him. Hey! Roxas!" Sora shouted.

Emily snorted. It always amused her that Sora actually spoke out loud to Roxas, when he knew that Roxas could hear his thoughts. Kairi never seemed to have a problem talking to Naminé.

"Hey. Axel wants to know--- yes, Axel's here. He wants to know if---" Sora sighed and rolled his eyes. "Roxas says 'hey'." Sora said for him.

"Are you gonna let me ask you my question now? Good. Axel wants to know if you can hear him." There was a short pause, Roxas was no doubt answering Sora.

"He says yes, but he wasn't really paying attention when you first got here. He says hi, and that he's happy you're alive again, although he doesn't fully understand how that can be." Sora finished.

"Hey. I hope I'll see you again someday... But it's nice to know that you're doing well. I feel weird talking to you like this--- so--- I'm gonna stop now." Axel said, waving, although Emily didn't know if Roxas could actually _see_ him waving.

"Roxas says he hopes he'll be able to talk to you on his own someday too, and he says 'see ya'. I think he's going back to sleep now. He usually does that, or spends time with Naminé when Kairi and I are together." Sora blushed at Kairi's name.

There was another awkward silence after that, until a phone call interrupted it. Emily got up to answer it.

"Hello? Emily speaking…" she said.

"Em, it's Kairi." Kairi's voice said from the other line.

"Do you want me to get Sora?" Emily asked.

"No, I can just tell you. You can tell him once we hang up."

"Okay."

"Riku just called me, he says he was down at the island when he got another message from the king. The king said that he was coming a day early because it didn't take as much time as he thought to get here. The King will be here around seven tonight. I've already packed, and you guys should too. Tell--- tell Sora I love him."

"Will do. Bye." Emily said as she hang up.

"Sora! That was Kairi. The King's coming tonight because he got here faster than he thought. We've gatta pack." Emily said, walking back into the kitchen. She almost forgot Axel was there.

"You can come with us if you want, you'd be great help with defeating who-knows-what." Emily told him.

"Sure. I've got nothing better to do. I don't have anything to pack though." Axel replied, standing up.

"When's the King coming?" Sora asked, already at the staircase.

"Seven, or at least that's what Kairi said. Oh, and she said she loves you." Emily sniggered as she saw her brother's face turn a deep red.

"So he and Kairi are a thing now… right?" Axel asked.

"Yup." Emily answered, running up the stairs to pack her bag. She packed only the necessities. She packed two changes of clothing, three pairs of shoes, a hair brush along with some hair-ties for those hair emergencies. She also grabbed a bar of soap, and a mini bottle of shampoo and conditioner; the kind you get from hotels (her father brought them home every time he got back from a business trip). Emily checked to make sure her magic watch was around her neck, which it was, and just for making sure, she called her key blade. She looked it over, and then sent it away. Just as she was leaving, she looked back at her sister's bed.

Emily couldn't leave without telling her sister goodbye, even if Shelby didn't want to hear it. Emily grabbed a piece of notebook paper, and a stray pen. She had to scribble the pen a few times to get the ink to come out. She wrote:

Shell + Family,

I love you all. There was a change of plans, and the king came earlier than he thought he would. As you understand, we have to go. It'll eliminate the possibility of darkness from our world forever, or it could mean the end of all worlds. I'd rather think that the first one will happen. But any way, please be safe, and I promise I'll be safe. I love you all, and I'm sure Sora does too. Not seeing you soon enough,

Emily

"Em, you coming?" Sora's voice came from the doorway.

"Yea. I had to write a note for Shelby, and mom, dad, and Mark." Emily answered, joining Sora outside her room.

"They just called. They're already at the island." Sora explained.

"What?" Emily asked, confused. "How did they know to go there?"

"I guess Riku's mom told them. Anyway, come on, we gatta go. It's six thirty now." Sora explained. Emily hadn't realized how long she must've slept in. It only felt as if she had been up for a few hours. Emily shrugged her shoulders as she followed Sora down the stairs. While going down, she realized that Sora wasn't carrying a bag at all.

"Sora, where's all your stuff?" She asked. Sora gave her a "you should've already known this" look.

"In my pockets." he pointed to his bulky red pockets that hung off his black pants. Emily eyed them, and said rather appalled, "Aren't you bringing a change of clothes?"

"No." Sora said seriously.

"Eww. Guys are disgusting." Emily said, wrinkling her nose.

"Heh, you should've figured that out when you were living with me." Axel half laughed.

Emily rolled her eyes. "Let's go." she said.

"Where to exactly? I've never been off the main island before." Axel asked.

"Wait--- what?" Emily asked, confused as she walked at a brisk pace in order to keep up with Sora.

"You've only been alive for, like a day." Emily said. Axel shook his head.

"That little girl brought me back about three weeks ago. I've been living here, trying to find you. Remember? You ran into me that one day in the market place." Axel explained.

"But--- I just had my dream today. And--- I thought it would be the present since I've spoken with the girl…" Emily said, nothing making sense to her anymore.

"Time is a funny thing. Maybe you had the conversation with her in the past, but are just now remembering things. Maybe she's sending things to your mind that have already happened. You talked with her, but it was your subconscious she talked to. If you get what I'm saying…" Axel tried to explain.

"Maybe…" Emily responded. She could feel a headache coming on, and didn't want to think on the subject anymore.

"We'll have to take two boats. I don't think one will be strong enough to hold us all. Em and I can take one, and you can take that spare." Sora said, pointing to the two remaining boats. Emily hadn't realized how quickly they had arrived at the dock.

"Okay. I'll follow you since I have no idea where the heck I'm going." Axel said, stepping down into the little boat with some difficulty. It was obvious that he wasn't used to boats or the sea for that matter. Sora rowed while Emily sat backwards to make sure Axel wasn't steering the wrong way. Emily had to continually tell him which paddle to stroke in order to make himself go straight. Emily found it quite funny, laughing every time Axel swore as he rowed into a wave.

"You'll get used to it--- eventually." Emily said, after calming down a little. What she said proved to be true, as Axel finally got the rhythm of the paddling and the sea surges.

Soon enough, they found themselves at the next dock. While Sora tied his boat, Emily hopped out and helped Axel tie his up. Axel climbed onto the dock, and swayed back and forth, suffering from a severe case of sea legs. Emily laughed as she helped steady him.

"Yea, yea, yea. Laugh all you want now. If I wasn't wet, I'd have my chakrams out and burning." Axel said, wringing out the bottom of his cloak, his balance finally returned.

"Everyone's over there." Sora said, pointing to a group of people a little ways down; standing near the beach shack. Sora handed Emily her bag, and the three of them began walking.

"Sora! Emily!" Kairi's voice rang out. Soon enough she ran up to them, putting her arms around Sora's neck. Sora swung her around before setting her down. Kairi got a look of fear in her eyes when she spotted Axel.

"Hey." Axel said coolly.

"What's-- he doing here?" Kairi asked softly.

"Hey!" Sora said, not to Kairi, but rather to Axel. "Remember what I told you before you faded away? You can tell her you're sorry yourself now!"

"Oh yea, I completely forgot about that…" Axel said, putting his arm behind his head. "Sorry about--- all the stuff I did. I'm working' on your guys' side now." Axel extended his hand. Kairi looked at it, and hesitantly laid her hand in his. They shook, and Axel said, "There. See? No lies. I'm a good guy now. Got it memorized?"

"Oh God, Axel. Not that phrase again." Emily said, shaking her head.

"What?" Axel asked. Fully oblivious to the fact that he asked it all the time.

"Nothing…" Emily sighed, spotting her parents. "Come on Sora. There's Mom and Dad."

"I'll be back in a minute." Sora said to Kairi. Kairi nodded, and Emily and Sora headed towards their parents.

"Mom! Dad!" Emily cried, running up to them. They turned around and immediately hugged her.

"Riku's parents called us while we were out. They said you'd be leaving a day early. We had to come. Mark and Shell are with us too. You should go see them." Emily's mom said, on the verge of tears. After a few more seconds of hugging, Emily let go of her parents and went to find her brother and sister. She spotted them sitting at the sea's edge. She sat down next to Mark, because she knew Shelby was still pretty mad.

"Hey---" Emily said quietly, Sora joined them, sitting next to Shelby.

"I just want you guys to know---" Emily was cut off.

"We already know that you want to leave to, '_save the world_'." Shelby raged, throwing a clump of soggy sand into the water, creating a muddy splash.

"Hey, take it easy." Sora said, trying to calm her down. Shelby was crying by this point, and digging her hands into the sand in frustration.

"No! Why don't you try taking it easy!?" Shelby shouted, and Emily was sure the entire island could hear her.

"We---" Sora tried, but Shelby wouldn't have it.

"No! It's not fair! You already left us once, so why are you doing it again!? You saw what happened the first time!" she basically screamed.

"Shelby! Stop it!" Emily yelled, tears forming in her eyes at the thought that her sister could be this mad at them. Shelby did stop, staring at her sister, who had never yelled at her before.

"It's not like we even meant to leave the first time! It just--- it happened, okay!? And secondly, if we don't go this time, Xemnas could complete Kingdom Hearts, get and innocent little girl killed, and darkness could overrun all worlds, including this one! Why don't you stop thinking about yourself, and why you don't want us to leave, and _start_ thinking about everyone else and how we can save them!" Emily was standing up at this point, staring her sister down. She was not going to back down and let her sister win.

Shelby stared up at her, tears still streaming down her face. Emily stared right back while Sora and Mark sat, looking utterly confused at their sisters, who were having their first fight. Shelby stood up, and before Emily knew what was happening, felt two arms wrap around her middle.

"I'm s-sorry!" Shelby sobbed. "I j-just didn't w-want you t-to leave again!" Emily looked down at her sister, who seemed to finally understand why they had to leave. Emily slowly wrapped her arms around Shelby's small body.

"It's okay. We'll come back. I promise." she said.

"Do you p-pinky swear?" Shelby asked, calming down. Emily nodded and stuck out her pinky finger. Shelby put her tiny finger in Emily's, and they shook on it.

"Um--- Emmy?" Shelby asked, looking over Emily's shoulder.

"What?" Emily asked.

"What's that!?" Shelby screamed. Emily turned to see a large ship coming straight for them.

"That's a Gummi ship. Wait--- run!" Emily yelled as she realized that the ship was landing. Everyone ran about twenty feet as the large ship swerved and swooshed, as if a very bad pilot was flying it. The ship finally came to a halt, hovering about eight feet off the sand. Everyone stared in awe as a beam of light came out from underneath the ship, creating a familiar circle shape, which Emily was told was the portal for getting on and off a Gummi ship.

This particular ship was larger than the one Emily had seen the day she and the others got back from their previous adventure. It was red, and had accents of orange and yellow. Emily couldn't see the top of the ship, it had to have been at least fifty feet tall. Just then, a large flash of light occurred at the circular portal spot, and two figures emerged. The familiar form of a large duck, and a form that looked similar to the large dog, but this figure was thinner.

"Max," said the unmistakable voice of Donald Duck. "I'm flying the ship next time!"

Donald then went into one of his rages, while the dog, now known as Max, rolled his eyes. Shelby leaned towards Emily and asked, "What did he say? And are those really giant animals?" Emily nodded.

"Donald!" Sora's voice cried, as he ran up to the duck.

"Sora!" Donald cried, then looked around and said hello to everyone.

"This is Max." Donald said, shoving the dog in front of him.

"Hi." he said nervously. "I'm Goofy's son."

"Wonder why Goofy never mentioned anything about having a kid?" Sora asked Emily quietly. Emily shrugged her shoulders. She hadn't really known Goofy, Donald, or the King that well because she didn't meet them until the end of their adventure last time.

Everyone's parents went up to talk to the creatures, while the kids stayed behind. Sora and Kairi grabbed each other's hands as the strolled down the beach, Axel was introducing himself to the adults and warning Donald not to use magic on him. Shelby and Mark were with the adults because they were curious about the new visitors.

Emily sighed as she stood alone, praying that maybe Tidus would show up so they could talk. She thought she had seen him on the deck of the large play boat earlier, so she decided to go there. But she was interrupted on her search.

"Hey." said Riku's voice from behind her.

"Hey yourself." she said coolly.

"Have you ever flown on a Gummi ship before?" Riku asked. Emily shook her head.

"Good. Neither have I. I used dark portals most of the time."

"Me too." Emily answered, glad someone was going to have a first time flying experience other than her. "Hey, Riku," Emily began.

"Yeah?" he asked.

"Do you know what time we're planning on leaving?"

"No clue." he answered. "I do know that we should leave soon though, that is if we want to make it to Hollow Bastion--- err--- Radiant Garden before it's dark there."

"Radiant Garden… I think Sora's mentioned that place a few times. Umm--- a girl named Yuffie lives there, right?" Emily asked.

"Yep." Riku said.

"Hey!" It was Selphie's voice this time. Emily and Riku turned to see Selphie and Wakka walking towards them.

"We had to see everyone before you all left! I was looking for at least one of you back on the main island, but I couldn't find anyone. My mom had said something like, 'those people are leaving again.' And I knew she was talking about you, so I rounded up Wakka from blitz ball, and brought him to the island, which I knew you'd all be here of course…" Selphie rambled, but Wakka put his finger on her lips to silence her.

"Well, we better go see the others. We want to say bye to everyone before they leave." Wakka said. And the two began walking away.

"Hey!" Emily called. "Have you guys seen Tidus?" she asked.

"Sorry Em!" Selphie called back. "We haven't seen him since a couple days ago."

"Thanks any way!" Emily cried, worried that Tidus might be hurt, but she knew that her worrying wouldn't do anything. She had to accept it. She and Tidus were over.

"Tidus just needs time to think about things." Riku said calmly.

"I know…" Emily sighed, not really wanted to talk on the subject any longer.

"Come on." Riku said, grabbing Emily's forearm, "We'll be leaving soon. We should say our final good byes." Emily nodded in response, and followed Riku, who let go of her arm once they started walking.

"There you are!" Donald's voice quacked when Emily and Riku had finally reached everyone else.

"We're gonna be leaving in a few minutes." Max said, who, unlike Goofy, had much clearer speech. "I'm gonna go get the ship ready for flight." Max went to the circular portal and was teleported into the large, hovering ship.

Emily felt a hand on her shoulder, and turned expecting it to be someone other than who it was.

"You ready?" it was Sora. He had his other arm around Kairi. Emily shook her head.

"I have to say bye to Mom and Dad again." she answered.

"Well hurry up. We can't waste anymore time." Sora replied.

"I have to say bye to my Dad again." Kairi said, gasping as if she had forgotten to do so. Sora sighed and said, "Okay. C'mon Riku."

Riku smirked as he said, "Sorry Sora, but I've got to tell my folks final good byes as well." Emily smiled as well, and walked over to her parents one for final time.

"You need to get going." He father said, accepting the hug Emily offered.

"I know." she said, on the verge of crying again. "I just--- had to say good bye one last time."

"It's okay honey." Her mother told her. "But the longer you stay with us, the more you're going to miss us."

"I know." Emily said, wiping her eyes. She stepped back and took a final look at her family.

Mark and Shelby weren't anywhere to be seen, so Emily asked, "Mom, where are Mark and Shell?" Her mother pointed and said, "Over there, talking to that--- Axel, was it?" Emily nodded and turned in the direction her mother was pointing. She spotted Axel instantly, his jagged red hair a dead give away. As she walked closer to them she began to overhear their conversation. Axel was deep in a story about how he had been surrounded by billions of dusks, all alone. He told of how he bravely defeated them all, coming close to death at least sixty times.

"Really. Hmm. You never told me that story before." Emily said sarcastically.

Axel jumped at the sound of her voice. Even though Emily was full aware of the fact that nobodies couldn't feel or portray real emotion, Emily was sure she detected a hint of embarrassment. Axel's cheeks even flushed a slight fuchsia color. He sure knew how to react and fake an emotion.

"I knew it!" Mark shouted, pointing his finger accusingly.

"You mean you lied?" Shelby asked, wide-eyed.

"Heh-- oh look at the time. I--- I've gotta go." Axel laughed nervously. As he passed Emily to go to the Gummi ship, he nudged her, rather hard, in the side. Emily shot him a look and turned to her younger siblings.

"I came to give you one last good bye before--- before---"

"Before you leave." Shelby finished for her. Emily nodded.

"Yeah. Before I do that." she smiled. She hugged each of them tightly, and let go as Mark began to squirm. As she let go, Mark said, "Can I try holding your key blade again? Just one more time?"

"Sure." Emily answered, calling her blade. She handed the black blade to her brother's outstretched hand. He took it. Expecting it to immediately flash and return back into her own grasp, Emily watched in shock and awe as her brother carefully handled the blade.

"Look! I can do it now!" he shouted excitedly.

"Be careful with that thing!" Shelby yelped, dodging the tip of the blade as Mark swung the key.

"Hey…" Emily said nervously, looking at her brother's power-hungry eyes.

"Give it back now. I'll--- I'll let you see it when I get back." For a moment, Emily was sure Mark was going to swing the blade at her, his eyes held a fire-like gleam she had never seen in them before. But as soon as she noticed this, the look vanished, and Mark handed her back the blade.

"Maybe…" came Shelby's quiet voice. "Maybe if Mark can do it… so can I!"

"I don't know…" Emily said uneasily, unsure of what might happen.

"Let her try." Mark said, only, more like a command. Emily swallowed and did as she was told, unsure of why she was obeying a seven year old. Shelby took the key blade, which also remained in her hand.

"Sora's never going to believe this…" Emily said in barley a whisper.

"You can have it back." Shelby said, holding the key blade as far away from herself as she could, as if it were the black plague or something. Emily took it, and let it vanish. She stared at her siblings once more before running to the ship, turning and waving to everyone.

"It's about time!" Sora said as Emily joined the group in the portal circle.

"I have stuff to tell you later." Emily whispered in his ear. Sora nodded, and the group gave one final wave to their friends and family. Emily looked desperately for Tidus somewhere in the group. But he was no where in sight.

_Guess he's really not coming. _Emily thought sadly, as the large group was engulfed in a bright greenish light. There was a moment where everything went black, and Emily felt as if she could no longer breath. But the feeling of emptiness and blackness went away as soon as it began. Emily clutched her chest, and breathed in heavily. Kairi, Riku, and Axel seemed to be the only other ones who experienced this feeling.

"You get used to it." Sora said nonchalantly as he grabbed Kairi's hand and helped her up.

"Yeah, I hope so." Axel said, almost threateningly.

"Hey everyone!" Sora said suddenly and excitedly. "You've gotta watch this. It's really awesome if it's your first time on a Gummi ship." He waved everyone to follow him. Sora seemed to know exactly where he was going. Soon Emily found herself in a large room that had chairs, controls, computers, and a giant windshield. Max and Donald were arguing near one of the large computers about who knew what.

Sora motioned for everyone to gather near the windshield. Emily had the uneasy feeling that someone was watching her from behind, and quickly turned around. She saw a dark figure run around the corner opposite where the group had come from. Emily called her key blade, and was about to follow the shadow when Sora's voice called her. Emily quickly released her key blade and turned.

"Come on Em! You _have _to see this!"

"Coming." Emily said, watching the hallway where the shadow had gone.

By the time Emily had joined the others, Donald and Max were sitting in what Emily guessed were the captain's chairs. Emily stood next to Riku and Kairi, and looked in awe out the windshield. She saw the island below her. She had never been this high above her home before. The last time she had left the islands, she had went through a dark portal. This time she was going to leave by flying. She had never flown before, but knew that her father had told her stories about flying. He said it was as close to being a bird as you could get.

Emily and the others watched excitedly as the ship's engines started up, creating a large roar. It was the loudest, and strangest sound Emily had ever heard. She watched as the ship hovered upwards slowly, and stared as her island became smaller, and smaller. She could see everyone, though now they looked like small bugs on the ground. Then, the ship suddenly stopped, and the engine's turbines roared as they were pushed to their limits. Everyone stumbled as the ship flew straight up, leaving the world behind it. There was a flash of bright green, and Emily knew they were entering a type of flying called "warp-drive". At the start of the warp drive, the group toppled over. Emily was pinned beneath Kairi and Riku. Sora jumped up and helped Kairi to her feet, as Riku got to his knees and apologized for squishing Emily.

"It's alright." Emily said, taking the hand that Riku had offered. Emily dusted her legs off as Donald began to speak in his trademark, hardly understandable voice.

"Sora knows where all the rooms are, so he'll show you where to go. Max and I will be here, fighting off heartless ships. There's not very many of them left, but the ones that are left are difficult to---" Donald stopped and sighed as he looked at everyone's confused faces; he knew that they were not understanding him.

"Just go." he said, jumping into his captain's chair.

"Follow me everybody." Sora ordered. Emily jumped as someone leaned close to her ear and whispered, "I hate flying as much as I hate sailing." it was Axel's voice. Emily laughed. Axel was a bit green in the face, and Emily moved passed him, hoping she wouldn't get thrown-up on. Everyone followed Sora, with Axel in the rear, keeping one hand on the wall to steady himself. Sora showed them the boys' quarters, and then moved a ways down the long hallway, and stopped in front of the girls' quarters.

"There's bedrooms in each of the rooms along with bathrooms. We won't really be sleeping on the ship much because we have a warp drive installed." Sora explained.

"And what, exactly, is that?" Axel asked, his face less green.

"It's like a dark portal." Emily explained. "Gets you to places faster than regular flying does." Axel nodded.

"Alright. Emily, Kairi, I guess it's just the two of you. Axel, Riku, let's go. I have to go to the bathroom." Sora said, heading back towards the boy's room.

"Oh no," Axel said, waving a finger. "I get first dibs on the bath room. Got it memorized?"

"Alright. Axel gets the bathroom first." he said, not wanting to see what Axel would do if he argued.

Kairi and Emily shook their heads.

"I'm gonna be in in a minute." Emily said to Kairi. Emily wanted to go back and investigate the shadowed figure she had seen. If it was a heartless or a dusk, she needed to rid of it.

"Okay." Kairi said, entering the room, which Emily saw had milky yellow walls and carpeting. As soon as the door closed, Emily began walking back towards the captain's area. She called her key blade, wanting to be ready for whatever the intruder was. She heard something metallic fall behind her, and she quickly turned.

She stood face to face with a very familiar someone.

"Okay. Rule one of sneaking around. Always have your back covered."

Emily stood staring. Her key blade released itself.

"I--- you--- I---" Emily stuttered dumbly. The someone placed a finger on Emily's lips to silence her.

"I'm--- I'm sorry."

"Tidus!" Emily said, wrapping her arms around him, shocked, confused and happy all at the same time that he was there with her.

"But how did you---" Emily said, but Tidus cut her off.

"I felt horrible for the way I treated you." he answered.

"I knew you were leaving, and I was afraid you'd yell or be mad if I showed up. I knew you wouldn't let me come with you either way because you'd be too angry at me, or you wouldn't want me to be hurt. So I decided to sneak on the ship, and well--- here I am." Tidus explained.

"I--- you're here!" Emily said, stating the obvious, wrapping her arms around him once more, tears flowing down her face."

Tidus put his arms around her as well, and rubbed her back gently saying, "It's okay." Emily looked up at his eyes after she had calmed down again. Tidus stared back into hers, and as if both of them knew what to do next, locked their lips into a kiss.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Said a voice that made them instantly break apart. It was Axel who had said it, but Sora, Kairi, and Riku were right behind him. Sora and Riku were glaring at Tidus, while Kairi's face looked confused, but happy as well. Axel looked shocked.

"You two are--- he's your--- oh _God_." he said, continuing to stare at them.

"You---" Sora said, but didn't finish, still giving Tidus the "I'm very angry with you at the moment" look. Riku crossed his arms and gave Tidus the "I hate you" look.

"That was---" Kairi started, searching for the right words. "That was so cute!" Sora jumped at this, expecting something else. He turned to look at Kairi with a shocked look. Riku did the same, while Axel was _still _giving them the "holy crap, what just happened" look.

"I'm--- really sorry---" Tidus said.

"Yeah, well, sorry isn't going to cut it." Riku said threateningly. Emily was glad that Riku and her brother were being protective of her, but she didn't like it that they seemed to want to kill Tidus.

"Look," Tidus tried to explain. "I didn't act--- what I said… what I did… it wasn't right. And I'm _really_ sorry. I can't say it enough. I was just--- frustrated was all."

Sora and Riku's gazes didn't lighten up, and they chose not to say anything.

"You two are--- a couple?" Axel asked. Emily stared at him, and the random out break of his question. Emily and Tidus looked at each other and Emily answered, "Yes. Yes we are." She took Tidus's hand. Emily looked around, Axel still staring, Kairi giving a smile that said she was apologizing for Sora's reaction, Sora glaring, and Riku had a look Emily had never seen before. Although he was glaring at Tidus with the same intensity as Sora, his eyes held a look of hurt. Emily suddenly felt her heart begin to beat very rapidly for a reason she did not know.

"Umm---" She stuttered, "Let's go then?" she asked.

"Yes. We should--- do that." Sora said, leading everyone to the captain's area, giving Tidus a cold stare as he passed him. Emily and Tidus were in the rear. Emily whispered, "I'm sorry about them."

"Don't be. They have every right to be angry with me." Tidus said, giving Emily a soft smile. Emily nodded, not quite sure what had just happened.

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**A/N: so was the long read worth it? i hope so. a LOT took place in this chapter, and the journey has begun. :) wOOt. Press the small square button, and type your comments in the window that pops up please.**


	9. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: i can only dream of owning Kingdom hearts and its characters...**

**A/N- soooooooooooooooooo sorry for the late update guys. but now that school's finally out and finals are over with i should have much more time to write. **

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**Chapter 8**

"Umm… guys?" Emily asked, hoping the boys had calmed down a little.

"What?" Riku's voice answered sharply (he was obviously still annoyed).

"Why are we going to the captain's room exactly?" she asked. Sora huffed before answering, "Because. The King wants to meet us there. Donald told me earlier when I was talking with him."

"The King's here!? How come he didn't come out of the ship?" Emily asked, excited to see the little mouse again.

"He didn't want to cause a commotion. He doesn't want his enemies to know where he is." Sora explained, still sounding bitter.

"Sora." Kairi said, sounding very motherly-like. "Stop it. Just calm down, alright? Don't take your frustration out on her." Sora looked at her as though she'd slapped him.

"I--- but--- fine." Sora sighed.

"The King probably wants to be filled in." Kairi added to Sora's explanation as the group reached their destination.

"Hello everybody!" came the familiar little voice. Emily smiled upon hearing it.

"Your King's a mouse?" Tidus whispered to Emily, who nodded in response.

"Hey your majesty." Sora said, his angered voice gone and replaced with his regular happy-go-lucky one.

"Sora! Kairi! Emily! Riku! And… uhh---" the king stopped as he eyed Axel suspiciously.

"Don't worry, your majesty." Donald said, seeing what the King was looking at. "He's on our side now."

"Yep. It's true." Axel said, smirking. The King looked at him and nodded. Then, eyeing Tidus, the King said, "And who's this?"

"Tidus--- uh… your majesty." Tidus said, giving a low bow. Emily smiled, as did the King.

"Hullo there, Tidus. Good to have you aboard. So, do you wield a key blade?"

Tidus shook his head.

"Okay," continued the King. "Can you perform magic?" Again, Tidus shook his head.

"Hmm… I'm sure you can do something." The King pondered for a while before finally saying, "But we'll try to figure that out later. Now. I need to be filled in! Have any of you--- experienced anything--- _strange_?" At this, everyone turned towards Emily.

Emily's face turned pink as she nodded.

"Really?" the King asked excitedly. Emily nodded again. The King turned to Max and asked, "Do you have Radiant Garden's coordinates locked in the computer?" Max typed something into a large computer and nodded his head as he answered, "We do now, you majesty."

"Good." The King answered. "We'll be there in about twenty minutes. But first, I want to talk with Emily. Alone, if you wouldn't mind." The King directed towards Emily.

"Sure. No problem." Emily said, feeling Tidus squeeze her hand gently. She looked at him. It felt so good to know that he still loved her. She smiled and said, "I'll be back in a few, okay?" Tidus nodded. Emily hesitated a minute before giving Tidus a peck on the cheek. She let go of his hand, and followed the King down the hallway that she had seen Tidus's shadow enter. She looked back and saw that Riku and Sora had confronted Tidus, while Kairi and Axel stood together looked confused as to what they should do.

Emily continued to follow the King, down a flight of stairs, that lead to a hallway which led to a rather large room that looked like a type of study. Emily was amazed that this flying vessel was much more like a house or a small building than a plane. The king sat in one of the large armchairs that were facing each other, his legs barely reaching the edge of the seat. Emily sat down in the empty chair.

"So. Tell me everything." The king said, folding his hands in his lap. Emily looked at him, trying to gather all the information she knew.

_Where to begin?_ She asked herself. Emily began with the group's reaction to the King's first letter they had received. She told of her dreams, how she spoke to the Being, how Axel had arrived. She even told a few personal things to the King. There was just something about the adorable little mouse that made Emily feel as though she could confide everything in him. She told him what had happened between her and Tidus, and even how her little brother acted so strangely to holding the key blade. Emily stopped and looked for some sort of time device on the wall, but didn't locate any. She was sure she had been talking for at least ten minutes.

The King sat and seemed to soak everything Emily had told him in.

"So," he began. "We have Axel on our side. We'll be able to use him to our advantage. And we'll hafta keep an eye on your younger siblings… and we'll need constant updates from you about the being, err--- Diexsa." The King paused and rubbed his chin, then said, "And, I want to see if Tidus has powers he doesn't know exist. I think he can use magic. He just doesn't know he can yet. That's how it is with most people. They have the ability to use magic, but they can't find a way to unleash it." The King sat, looking at Emily as if he wanted to know what she thought about it. Emily nodded and said, "Maybe. He's a really good fighter though. I've been sparring with him for a long time. If we could get him a real sword…" she trailed off.

"Yes, yes. But first, I want to give him Donald's staff. He'll be able to control magic with it." The King said as he jumped off the arm chair.

"Let's go!" he said, walking at a brisk pace back towards the captain's quarters. Emily followed him, having to walk faster than normal to keep up. When they entered the captain's quarters, Emily half expected to see Tidus cowering in a corner being attacked by Sora and Riku. Instead, she saw that Tidus was laughing with Axel and Kairi, and Riku and Sora were the ones sulking in the corner. Emily could only guess what had happened. Tidus waved to her when Emily entered the room.

"Donald!" The King called. Donald sat up and asked, "Yes, your majesty?"

"Get your staff please, I wanna try something." Donald gave the King a questioning look, but did as he was told. He brought a staff with what looked like a witch's head on the end of it, and gave it to the King, who took it from Donald, and tossed it at Tidus, who caught it, looking confused. **(A/N- I think that was a run on, but I don't know... sorry... anyway---)**

"If you would stand here please," the King said, pointing to the center of the room. Tidus cast Emily a look that said, 'What's going on?'. Emily just smiled and nodded for him to follow the King's instructions.

"I'm going to test your magic level." the King explained.

"My… what? Magic? I don't have any mag---" The King interrupted Tidus by saying, "Everyone's got some level of magic. Including those that do not wield key blades. Look at Donald!"

"I don't have magic…" Emily mouthed, more to herself than anyone else.

"Here's what you gotta do." the King instructed. "We're gonna do a simple spell. A fira spell to be exact. Just feel the magic flow through you, imagine it, and point the staff at the object you wish to light on fire. Let's use--- that book." The King pointed to a book that was very torn apart, and lying tossed on the floor.

Tidus looked at the King like he was crazy.

"You've just gotta believe." The King said, putting his hand over his heart. Tidus took a deep breath, and aimed the staff carefully at the book. He closed his eyes and said quietly, "Fira." Nothing happened. He opened his eyes and said in an 'I told you so' tone, "I knew I couldn't do magic." The King shook his head.

"You didn't believe. You believed you couldn't do magic, so, obviously, you couldn't. Now, just believe, and say 'fira' with some confidence." Tidus nodded. He aimed again, closed his eyes, and said loudly, "Fira!" A large ball of fire exploded out of the staff and hit the book square on. Tidus looked in shock at what he had done, then looked at Emily, who was grinning. Tidus beamed.

The King was examining the book which was crackling, then he put the fire out with a spout of water that he had created out of nowhere, dousing the flame. The King stood up and said to Tidus, who had given Donald back his staff and had joined Emily, "You have an above average level of magic. As soon as we get to Radiant Garden, I'll have Merlin teach you the tricks. It'll be extensive training because I only plan on staying in Radiant Garden for three days. That means you won't have much time to be with the others." At those words, Tidus's face fell, but instantly lit up again.

"I can help now!" Tidus said to Emily, excitedly. Emily smiled back, but couldn't keep the sadness out of her eyes.

"What is it?" Tidus asked, concerned. Emily felt tears returning to her eyes.

"I--- what if you get hurt?" She asked, her vision becoming distorted as the tears built up. Tidus grabbed her hand.

"That won't happen." He said reassuringly.

"But what if it does?" Emily contradicted, the tears spilling over.

"I was thinking the same thing about you." Tidus said, hugging her. "I didn't want you to get hurt, but then I realized that I was worrying for nothing because you and I both know that you can protect yourself. You know that I can protect myself, Em."

Emily nodded, not able to say anything.

"Your majesty!" Donald cried, turning everyone's attention to him. "We've arrived at Radiant Garden!" Tidus and Emily joined the group that was looking out the window at the planet that was quickly approaching them, or rather the planet that they were quickly approaching.

"Prepare to land!" Max cried, taking manual control over the ship. The ship slowed down, exiting the warp-drive. The ground didn't get any closer however, Emily was about to ask why they weren't landing, but she noticed that the portal circle had formed in the middle of the floor. She had completely forgotten that they could be beamed to and from a Gummi ship.

"Leon, Aerith, Yuffie, Cid, and Cloud should be waiting for us at Merlin's." the King said, being the first one to stand in the circle. Emily and Tidus soon joined along with Kairi, Axel, and Riku, and Sora, who still bore sour faces.

"Donald and I are going to get my dad." Max explained as he pressed a big blue button that initiated the bright green light to engulf them once more. The black and the feeling of being unable to breath returned, but only for a fraction of a second. Emily, Tidus, and Kairi all fell to the ground. Sora helped Kairi up while Riku lent Emily a hand, and when he didn't offer to help Tidus, Emily gave Riku a look, and bent down to help Tidus.

"I can't stand that feeling." he said once he had stood up.

"Me neither." Emily agreed. There was a sudden pounding in Emily's head. She placed her hand on her forehead, and the other on her stomach. Before she could tell someone that she didn't feel well, she blacked out, and began to fall. The last thing she heard was someone shouting her name, but as to who it was, she couldn't distinguish.

Instead of hitting hard ground, Emily found herself continuing to fall. She opened her eyes, but all she saw was black.

"Diexsa…" Emily whispered, realizing what was happening. She landed on her feet in a small white room. She knew it was a room located in The Castle That Never Was because of the design that covered not only the walls, but the ceiling and floor as well. To Emily's right was a small bed and an end table, and to her left was Diexsa sitting on the floor holding her knees. Emily rushed over to her.

"Diexsa!? What's wrong!? Are you okay!?" Emily asked, concerned. The little girl looked up, surprised to see Emily standing in front of her.

"You--- you're not--- Xemnas…" Diexsa said, her face conjured into one of confusion. Emily cocked her eyebrow, "What? No, of course not."

"I--- I just---" Diexsa stuttered.

"Why are you in this little room?" Emily asked. All the times Diexsa had called Emily, Emily had been asleep. It was strange that Diexsa would bring her here while she was awake.

"Xemnas locked me in here." Diexsa said. After seeing Emily's face of horror, Diexsa decided it would be best if she explained everything. "You might wanna sit down," she told Emily. Emily did as she was told, and listened to what the small girl had to say.

"After I brought back the other members of the Organization," she began, "Xemnas told me it'd be for the best if I was locked in a room. He told me I'd be more protected that way. I asked him why it was important for me to be protected, and he said that there's a lot of bad guys that would want to hurt me. He told me that he'd bring food for me, and he said he be lecturing me for thirty minutes every night. During my first lesson, I asked him how it was possible for me to bring someone to me, but not actually bring them, you know, like how I can make you come." Emily nodded, and Diexsa went on.

"He said it was simple. I could grab onto a person's subconscious easily by trying to find the link in _my_ mind. He said that it was possible for me to bring someone's conscious mind to me, but it would require a lot more power and strength. So he began training me with my light and dark power. I didn't want to over exert myself by trying to grab onto anyone's conscious mind yet, but today I wanted to. So I tried to bring Xemnas's. I wanted to know what he's really planning to use me for. I've heard the dusks whispering, but I can't really make out what they're saying. Anyway, the only reason you're here is because of an accident. I tried to call Xemnas they way I do you, only I went past the so called link, and grabbed the smaller one behind it. I know that doesn't make much sense, but I can't really put it into words. Sorry.

"So I guess I called you instead of him. That's why I was surprised when you showed up. I also learned from Xemnas that when I brought him and the other nobodies back to life, that I gave them an artificial heart of sorts. He said that it wasn't a true heart, but it behaved as one. From what he told me, I'm guessing that it's a ball of light that acts as a heart. It even allows the nobodies that I bring back to feel emotions up to an extent." Diexsa stopped talking, and looked at Emily as if waiting to hear what Emily thought about all this. Emily thought about what the little girl had said.

So Emily was the only one she could call upon. Emily had known this when she figured out she was "The Receiver", but she had forgotten that Diexsa didn't know that she was the being.

"Well," Emily said. She felt a throb of pain on her forehead, and grabbed it with her hand.

"Are you alright?" Diexsa asked, staring at Emily. The pain subsided and Emily nodded.

"You know," she said. "When you called me here, I wasn't sleeping like I normally am. I think I fell on the ground, and pretty hard from the way my head just hurt."

"Sorry…" Diexsa said, looking at her feet.

"It's okay, I know you didn't mean to." Emily said. Then a thought hit her. Before, Diexsa had explained something about the subconscious mind, and the conscious mind. It reminded Emily of how her and Diexsa's meetings seemed to be happening in the past.

"Diexsa…" Emily began, Diexsa met her eyes. "Did Xemnas explain to you what the difference was between connecting with the subconscious and the conscious mind was?" Diexsa thought for a moment before nodding.

"He said," she started, "He said that the subconscious sometimes--- that it sometimes took a while for what went on to translate to the conscious mind, while the conscious goes right away. So--- it's like, by the time you realized I first talked with you, it had already happened some time ago. Does that make sense?"

"Yes, it explains a lot." Emily said, understanding why she had been so confused when she found out Axel had been living on Destiny Islands for some time.

There was another short throb of pain, and Emily said, "Diexsa, I think it's time you let me go. I think I'm hurt and my friends are probably worried about me." Diexsa nodded.

"Xemnas will probably be here soon for another lesson. But before you go, I--- I'm really scared!" the little girl wrapped Emily in a tight hug.

"Don't be! I'll get you away from here some time! I don't know when, but I'll get you out of here. I promise." Emily said, patting Diexsa on the back. Diexsa let go and nodded, wiping her eyes. She waved, and Emily found her vision becoming loopy and twisted. She began to fall into blackness once more, but she didn't come out of it.

She suddenly felt a strong throb of pain, and she realized that her real body must have fainted.

**_8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8_**

Emily awoke to a constant pain in her forehead. She groaned, and opened her eyes. The amount of light that entered them only worsened her head pain. She blinked several times, and saw that a young woman dressed in a pink dress was opening the blinds on a window. Emily looked down and saw that she was lying in a bed.

_How did I get here? _She asked herself. She groaned again as she struggled to move, but it proved too difficult. The woman in pink stopped what she was doing, and looked at Emily.

"Good!" she said in a soft voice. "You're awake!" She sounded excited. The girl was very pretty. She had very long brown hair that was tied into a long pony tail, and she had bright green eyes.

Emily tried to speak, but it hurt to think, so she just laid there, watching the strange woman. Emily looked around the room as the brown-haired girl came and dabbed Emily's head with a wet cloth. It felt good and seemed to ease the pain a little. Emily noticed that the arm chair in the back of this strange bedroom was occupied. Emily concentrated on focusing her eyes, and saw that it was Tidus. He looked like he had fallen asleep. Emily smiled.

"You had us all worried." the woman said. The sound of her voice seemed to have a soothing affect. Emily turned towards her. "You hit your head pretty hard. I think we've given you at least three elixirs over the night, and Sora preformed the cure spell when you got here."

"Where's--- everyone?" Emily forced the words out. She had to tell them all of her visit with Diexsa.

"My name is Aerith." the girl said, pointing at herself. "You need to rest. I'm going to get the others now." Aerith stood up, and walked over to a door that Emily had failed to notice while surveying the room earlier.

"She's come around everyone!" Aerith called out the door. There were loud footsteps and Sora bounded into the room. Emily smiled at him.

"I--- have---" but she didn't get the words out. Sora had her in a large bear hug. Emily let out a loud moan of pain. The sudden movement had hurt her, and she felt her eyes well up.

"Sorry!" Sora said as he laid her back down gently. Emily glared at him, and wiped her eyes. She reached up to feel her pounding head, but instead of skin, she felt material.

"Oh, God!" she groaned softly. "A mirror?" she asked, not able to form a full question. Sora nodded and ran off to find one.

"So she wakes…" said the familiar voice of the red-head. "Gave us all a scare there, Emmy." Emily smiled as Axel made his way into the room. It took her a minute, but she realized something was wrong. Axel was no longer wearing an Organization cloak, rather, he was in black pants, and a black long sleeved shirt. He was still wearing the organization boots adn gloves, but it was the first time Emily had seen him in anything else besides the Organization clothing. Axel looked thinner than he had while wearing the cloak.

Axel noticed her staring at his new ensemble, and said with a lazy toss of his hand, "Yeah… We decided it would be better if I wasn't seen wearing that old cloak anymore, you know. Give me a new look to make me look less suspicious." He smirked, and Emily winced in pain as her head gave a violent throb of pain. Sora soon returned with a mirror. Emily took it and looked at her head. There was a white bandage wrapped all the way around her head, and on her forehead she could see blood starting to seep through. She put the mirror down and shook her head, but stopped after experiencing another wave of pain.

The others soon walked in, along with four others Emily didn't know. Sora noticed the confused look on Emily's face and named the strangers off for her. The old man that had the appearance of a medieval wizard was Merlin, the spiky blonde-haired man dressed in black was Cloud, a girl that wore a black skirt and black shirt was Yuffie, the man in black leather pants and that had a scar on his face was Leon, and Sora re-introduced Aerith.

"Glad to see you're doing better!" Yuffie said, very loudly. Her voice hurt Emily's head.

"Yuffie, you've got to be more quiet." the man named Leon said. Everyone stood there in silence until a voice from the back of the room said sleepily, "What's goin' on?"

It was the unmistakable voice of Tidus.

"Emily's awake." Kairi said. Tidus pushed through the crowd of people and stopped at the foot of Emily's bed.

"Hi." Emily whispered.

"Hey." Tidus said coolly. Emily looked around, and spotted the King, which made her remember that she had to tell them all of the dream.

"I have to tell---" but Emily was interrupted by the King himself.

"What ever it is," he said, "I'm sure it can wait 'till tomorrow."

"But---" Emily tried to argue.

"You heard him," Axel said, wagging his finger, "It can wait 'till tomorrow. Got it memorized?" Emily pouted.

"C'mon." the man named Leon said. "She needs to rest and it's not helping that there're so many people in here."

"I'll give her another elixir." Aerith said. After Emily was forced to drink a disgusting tasting, syrupy, drink, Aerith left, leaving only Sora, Riku, Tidus, and Kairi behind.

"I need to tell you guys somethi---" Emily said, feeling the effects of the elixir. She felt much better, and now most of the pain was gone. She wasn't sure how long this glorious feeling would last, but she wanted to tell the others about her dream before she went back to the pain.

"You heard the King," Sora interrupted. "It can wait until tomorrow."

"But," Emily protested. She tried to sit up, but a strong hand on her shoulder blocked her. It was Riku.

"You shouldn't sit up." he said, pushing her back down, not hard, but hard enough that she couldn't force against him. "The major rush of blood to your head could cause you to black out again, and none of us want that." Emily pouted, frustrated that she couldn't get her way. She sighed and asked, "So what happened? I mean--- when I fell?"

"Well," Sora started.

**_What Happened Earlier..._**

_"Emily!" it had been Riku that shouted her name. There was a loud thud from the force of Emily's body hitting the ground. Kairi gasped, and Sora, Riku, and Tidus rushed over to Emily's limp body._

"_She's bleeding!" Tidus had cried. _

"_Move over!" Axel had shouted. The three boys did as they were told, and Axel had lifted Emily up, and asked the King where they were going. Axel had tried to create a portal, but his dark powers seemed to be subsiding. Axel had cursed under his breath and shouted at the King, "Where is this damn place!?" _

"_Follow me!" The King had said, and he began to lead them to Merlin's house, which was where everyone was now._

_"She's bleeding really bad." Axel had told everyone while they were running. It'd begun to rain, and everyone was getting soaked._

"_Sora!" Kairi had yelled, "Do something!" Sora had called his key blade, and cast the cure spell, which seemed to help for a while. The group had ran through most of Radiant Garden, before they finally arrived at Merlin's house. They had barged in, and had almost been murdered by Leon, who'd thought Axel was with the Organization. They had laid Emily in the bed, and the girl named Aerith had shewed everyone out except Sora and Tidus. Aerith had cleaned Emily's head up, wrapped it, and given Emily two Elixirs._

_"She needs plenty of rest so it's probably best it we left her alone during the night." Aerith had told Tidus and Sora._

"_Will she be okay?" Tidus had asked. Aerith had nodded then she said, "I'll give her another elixir in the morning." Sora had begun to leave, but noticed that Tidus was staying at the side of Emily's bed._

"_C'mon." He'd said. Tidus had shaken his head._

"_What--- what if she needs me?" he asked. Sora had stood, lost for words until he finally said, "Fine. You can sleep in that chair over there." After that Sora had left the room, and Tidus eventually had fallen asleep in the arm chair._

When Sora and the others had finished telling Emily the story, Emily suddenly found herself very tired. It felt as if each of her eye lids had a five pound weight on them, and it was getting harder to keep them open.

"If you're tired," Riku said, noticing Emily starting to nod off, "Then sleep. You need the rest." The others seemed to agree with his comment, and they all left the room. Emily thought that it would be best to wait until the next day to tell everyone of her latest visit with Diexsa, and with that thought, she drifted into a very deep, and needed sleep.

* * *

**Again, sorry for the late update. any ways... tell me your thoughts in a review please. :)**


	10. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: don't own.**

**A/N: my thanks goes out to Mr. Fipp for how to fix my ff .net problem. **

**Also, I would like to apologize for the late update. All blame goes to the document edit/preview thing. Allrighty, with out further ado, here is capitulo nueve. Get readin' :) **

**Chapter 9**

When Emily awoke from an uneventful sleep, she saw that the room she was in looked much as it did when she had awoken the last time. Aerith was opening the blinds on the window. The light that entered the room did not hurt Emily's head as it had done before. Her head now felt reasonably better, at least compared to before.

"Good morning!" Aerith said brightly yet softly at the same time.

"Hello." Emily said, then asked, "How long have I been asleep?"

"You slept through most of yesterday." Aerith answered. "And on a happy note, you only needed one elixir during the night. I think you're doing much better. Does your head still hurt? I just changed the bandages a few hours ago."

Emily shook her head. Then asked, wondering where everyone was, "Where is everybody?"

"Well, Tidus is with Merlin, Sora, Riku, and Kairi are all out in the town running some errands, the King is--- well, I don't really know where he is. And the man with the spiky red hair, I think his name's Axel, is discussing weapons and other fighting things with Leon." Aerith answered in vivid detail.

"Oh." was the only thing Emily could say. After a few seconds of complete silence, Emily asked, "So you have no idea where King Mickey is? I need to tell him some… important stuff." Aerith shook her head.

"Sorry." she said.

After another few seconds of silence, there was a low grumbling which startled Aerith. Emily's face flushed with embarrassment as she said, "I think I'm hungry. Do you have any breakfast food?" Aerith chuckled softly and said with a smile, "I'm sure I'll find something" And with that, Aerith left the room. Emily sat, wondering where on earth the King could be. She tried to keep the details of the memory with Diexsa fresh in her mind, by going over them. After several minutes of recollecting the details, Aerith reentered the room with a bed-in-breakfast tray that had a glass of orange juice (Emily's favorite), an orange, and a slice of what looked like toast.

"Axel told me you were rather fond of oranges." Aerith said, gently setting the tray over Emily's lap.

"Thanks!" Emily said, looking forward to eating because her stomach wouldn't stop telling her that she was hungry.

"Before I leave," Aerith said, who was already at the door, "I found the King. He was observing Tidus and Merlin's progress." After Aerith had exited the room, the familiar form of the little mouse entered.

"Glad ta see you're doin' better!" the King squeaked.

"Glad to be feeling better, your majesty." Emily said, grinning as she pealed her orange.

"I'll let ya eat your breakfast," the King continued, taking a seat in the empty armchair, "And then you can tell me your important news." Emily stopped pealing her orange, and stared at the King, a bit surprised that he was truly interested in what she had to say.

"Please," he said, noticing her staring. "Finish. Food will give you much needed energy." Emily nodded, and went back to pealing her orange.

After successfully pealing the last portion, she ate a slice, and set the rest of the orange down. She had to tell the King everything before she forgot any of it.

"When I fell," she started, "It was because Diexsa called me, your majesty." Emily then went on to explain how Xemnas was planning something, but Diexsa wasn't sure what and how Diexsa was being locked up in a small room for her supposed "protection". She told of Diexsa's lessons with Xemnas on how to control her powers, and how Xemnas had explained the difference between subconscious and conscious connections. All the while the King nodded in the appropriate times, never changing his facial expressions.

"Is that all?" he asked, after Emily had stopped talking. Emily thought and then remembered something.

"No!" she shouted, how could she have forgotten?

"Diexsa said--- she said that the people that she brought back--- she said that she gave them artificial hearts. She said that even the nobodies would be able to feel emotions, well--- up to a certain point anyways. She said that the light she put into them made a type of artificial heart." Emily finished and looked at the King. He seemed to be pondering this statement. But all he said was, "hmmm", before jumping off the chair. He stopped at the doorway and said, "I'll inform the others. You need ta rest up. We're only plannin' ta stay here another day and you need ta get plenty-a rest while you can."

"Your majesty!" Emily called as the King moved through the door and out of view. He popped his head back in and asked, "Yes?"

"I was wondering if it would be possible for me to go out with the others. I wanted to look at the town---" but the King cut her off.

"No. I know it sounds kinda harsh, but you really should stay in bed. Too much blood rushing into your head could cause ya ta fall again, and we don't want that." he said, and left before Emily could argue. How unfair was this!? Emily had to stay bed ridden; unable to do anything while everyone else was either getting training, or doing something for the benefit of, well, all the worlds. And here Emily was, stuck in a bed, not allowed to do anything. She found it highly unfair.

Emily looked down at her breakfast tray, no longer finding herself hungry. She chugged the rest of her orange juice and removed the tray off her lap. After looking for a table to put the tray on, Emily reluctantly set the tray back down, hoping that Aerith would soon come back to take it. Emily huffed and laid her head on her pillow. She was extremely upset that the King wouldn't let her go out. She wanted to see the town, wanted to explore it, wanted to help the others with whatever they were doing. She didn't plan on being such a burden. So far it seemed that bad things kept happening to her. She and Tidus had had a fight, Shelby seemed to hate her, discovering she was the Receiver, Diexsa hurting her several times in the process of calling her.

But the more Emily thought about it, the more she began to realize that so far, everything had turned out for the better. She and Tidus had gotten back together, Shelby stopped being angry, and Emily was now an insider on what was happening with Xemnas. Emily still couldn't help feeling upset that she wasn't allowed to do anything, but she couldn't feel upset that only bad things were happening to her, because all the bad things had turned out to be good things. She sighed, but was startled when there was a knock at her door.

"Uh--- come in." Emily said, not sure of who it was seeing as there were so many people in the one little house.

Aerith came into the room.

"Just checking in on you." she said warmly.

"Are you finished?" she asked, pointing to the breakfast tray. Emily nodded her head. Aerith smiled and took the tray.

"I'm going out to do a few things. Only Leon and Axel are still here, so if you need anything they say to just holler." Aerith said, leaving the room. Emily nodded.

"Okay." she said. A few minutes after Aerith left her room, Emily heard the sound of a large door open and close. Emily guessed it was the front door, and that Aerith had gone.

Emily figured she might as well try to sleep, seeing that was the only thing she could think to do. Perhaps Diexsa would try calling her again. Emily closed her eyes, but her mind was buzzing on too many topics for Emily to even think about sleep. She opened her eyes and sighed out of boredom. Then it dawned on her. The only two people there were Axel, and the man named Leon. It would be much easier for her to sneak out while there were fewer people in the house. Emily sat up quickly, but had to lay back down when the sudden rush of blood made her become dizzy. When her head cleared, she sat up again, only much slower, and more carefully.

"So far so good." She said to herself in a whisper as she planted her feet on the ground and stood up for the first time in two days. It felt good to be on her feet again. Emily stretched, and noticed that she was wearing a very baggy pair of pajamas. She slowly walked over to the other side of the bed, and found her bag that she had packed. She changed into a pair of khaki caprice and a purple shirt that had three quarter length sleeves. She was careful when pulling it over her head so as not to mess up her bandages.

She slipped a pair of tennis shoes on, and pulled her hair back into a loose ponytail. This was done with a lot of pain. It hurt to stretch the skin on her scalp. After she struggled to put her hair up, she snuck over to her door. She opened it just a crack, and did it as quietly as possible. She listened, and heard Axel's and who she guessed to be Leon's conversation.

"So," Leon was saying. "You just imagine your chakrams being there, and they show up?"

"Mm hmm." came Axel's voice. Emily should have guessed they'd be talking about weaponry.

She stopped listening to their conversation, and decided it was safe for her to poke her head out of her room. Axel and Leon's voices were coming from a room somewhere from the right, and to the left was a dead end. When she had heard Aerith leave, she heard the front door close from a room that must have been to the right. Emily quietly tiptoed out of the room, and shut the door almost silently. She tiptoed down the hallway, praying that the old wooden floorboards wouldn't creak. Her heart was pounding as the two men's voices got louder. The hallway stopped, and led into a large room. It seemed that Axel and Leon were located in this room. Emily stopped moving forward, for her heart had given a giant lurch.

"Be back in a sec." It was Axel's voice. Emily heard fast approaching footsteps coming her way, and she decided to make a run for it. She turned around, but the sudden movement sent her head in a dizzying frenzy, and she could feel herself falling as her eyes became clouded with a black and gray fuzz. However, she never hit the ground. A hand was tightly closed around her arm, preventing her from crashing. Emily opened her eyes, and regained her balance. She turned to see that it was Axel who was grasping her.

"What have we got here?" he asked with a smirk, and eyed Emily suspiciously. He let go of her arm.

"I--- uh---" Emily stuttered, searching for words. Axel held out his finger and said, "Tsk, tsk. You shouldn't be outta bed. The King gave us specific instructions to not let you leave your room, much less leave the house." Axel was giving her a pretty convincing look of sternness. Emily hesitated before saying angrily, "I'm fine! Really, I am! I can't stand lying in bed anymore! I wanna get up! I need to do something!" Axel looked surprised, he was obviously not expecting her to lash out in anger.

"Look," Axel started explaining. "We don't want you to go hurting your pretty little head again. If you honestly want to do something to help, then go back to bed. It'll make us feel better knowing that you're getting better. You took quite a nasty fall there---"

"But I feel fine now!" Emily shouted, interrupting. "I'm going mad staying in that room." Axel had suddenly gotten a stern, almost fatherly look on his face.

"Do you know how much we did for you after you fell? We all got soaked, Sora used all of his magic to heal you, and---"

"Gee Axel," Emily sneered. "It sounds like you're actually _feeling_ an emotion." The words escaped her mouth before she even realized what she had said.

Axel stared at her, his face rigid. His eye seemed to twitch before he put his head in one hand, and pointed back to Emily's room with the other and said, "Go. Just--- go."

"Axel--- I---" Emily tried to apologize. Axel said nothing. He gestured her to go back to her room.

"I'm so sorry…" Emily said, not moving. "I didn't--- I just--- gaw, I don't even know what came over me." Axel took his head out of his un-pointing hand and looked Emily in the eyes. After an extended silence, Emily asked softly, "King Mickey didn't tell you, did he…"

"Tell me what!?" Axel snapped, but caught himself and repeated more calmly, "Tell me… what?"

Emily took a deep breath before saying, "He didn't tell you about the--- about _your _heart, err--- your _fake_ heart, anyways." Axel looked taken aback.

"My--- what?" He looked like he wasn't sure if he should be laughing, or crying, or possibly even both at the same time. However that was a complicated emotion, even for those that possessed actual hearts, so it was probably far to complicated for the artificial heart steadily beating in Axel's chest to perform.

"Looks like I've got a lot of explaining to do…" Emily said. She paused before adding, "That is, if you're not mad anymore… and if you'll let me come out of that room." Axel looked her over for a moment before grinning and saying, "Naa--- come on. You can join me and Leon in the other room. It's a bit cramped in there though…"

Emily grinned and followed Axel who was walking into the room where Emily had heard him and Leon discussing weaponry. She took a step forward, but immediately felt dizzy again. Her eyes clouded once more as she began falling towards the floor. This time she hit it, and it wasn't too painful of an impact, but she knew she'd have several bruises.

"Hey!" Emily heard Axel's voice shout, and she heard and felt his running footsteps towards her. Her vision cleared as Axel helped her up.

"That's gonna hurt in the morning…" Emily nervously chuckled, rubbing the red spot that had formed on her knee. After making sure Emily was able to stand on her own, Axel let go of her, and put his other arm behind his head as he said, "Maybe you should just tell me about this in your bed. Your head still needs time to heal you know."

"I think you're right." Emily said reluctantly, messaging her temples with her fingers.

"Walk slow. Got it memorized? You don't need to hurry, your door isn't that far away." Axel said, going ahead of Emily and opening the bedroom door. Emily did as she was told, not wanting to chance falling again. After a slow and cautious walk, Emily climbed back into the soft bed. Axel grabbed the armchair and pulled it closer to the bed so he could hear what Emily had to tell him about his so-called "heart". But before Emily could even begin, the man named Leon's head popped into the door and said in a concerned tone, "Is everything okay? It sounded like someone fell."

"Yeah, everything's peachy." Axel said, not meaning to sound rude.

"Everything's fine." Emily said reassuringly. Leon nodded, and turned and walked out of the room to do who knew what.

"The suspense is killing me. Really." Axel said, leaning on his hands looking at Emily with a look of true curiosity. Emily could tell that the emotion wasn't fake because she could see it in Axel's eyes. Before his eyes were just blank, emotionless green orbs. Now there was something in them, be it a gleam, or a sparkle, Emily could just tell that Axel was experiencing true emotion for the first time in years, whether he knew it or not.

"I had another meeting with Diexsa. That's why I fell the other night." Emily then went on to explain everything she had previously told the king. She was surprised that she could still remember it in almost full detail. She paused to take a breath before explaining the part about the hearts of light.

"So," she said, "when she brought you back to life, she placed an orb of light in your chest where your heart should've been.

"It's no where close to being a real heart, or a heart like the one you would've received from Kingdom Hearts, but, it's a beating, pumping, emotion-feeling heart nonetheless." Emily stopped talking, waiting to hear Axel's reply. Axel sat quietly for a moment before saying, "You're pulling my leg!"

"No!" Emily said, knowing how to get him to believe her. "Place your hand over the spot where your heart should be and feel for yourself." Axel sat, just staring at Emily.

"Well, go on! What's the worst that could happen?" Emily said, beaming, knowing that she would win. Axel shook his head, and laughed as he removed his glove from his right hand. He then placed it over his chest, and felt. His face immediately turned into one of shock, and some of the color seemed to drain from his face.

"No way." he said in disbelief. He did not remove his hand from his chest; as if he was daring it to stop beating. Emily nodded, grinning. Axel stood up, and said, his face turning a light shade of green, "I---" he stuttered, "I think I'm gonna be sick!" he ran out of the room, and Emily heard a nearby door slam, the bathroom no doubt. Emily burst out laughing. It wasn't that the situation was funny, well, maybe a little, but to be honest with herself, Emily didn't really know what her reason for laughing was.

After Emily had calmed down a little, she felt her stomach squirm uncomfortably.

"I'm starving," she said as she realized she never actually finished her breakfast. Not wanting to risk getting another dizzy attack, Emily shouted for Axel, who bounded back into the room, a look of complete merriment on his face. He ran to Emily, and began squeezing the life out of her in a tight hug. After the shock wore off, Emily said, "You know, I have a rule about touching. No touching me, 'got it memorized'?" she said, laughing as Axel put her down and gave her an 'I-hate-you-for-using-my-line' look which vanished quickly.

"I don't know how I didn't see it before!" he said excitedly.

"See what?" Emily asked.

"I mean, I don't know how I overlooked all of this---" he searched for the word, but couldn't seem to find a better one than, "_feeling._"

"You mean the emotions?" Emily asked, and Axel nodded.

"I overlooked them. I guess--- I really don't know! But I realized while I was in the bathroom. This overwhelming sense of… I guess the emotion is 'happiness'… yeah… that's it--- This overwhelming sense of happiness came over me. And I realized that I was actually feeling happy! Then you called, and I--- hey what did you want anyway, kid?" Axel said, regaining his "cool; nonchalant" composure once more. Emily held back a giggle. She had never seen Axel this--- well, there really wasn't a word to describe him.

"I wanted some food," she said, masking an escaping laugh as a cough.

"Well, I'll go ask Leon what he has in the kitchen. Oh, and I was going to show him my chakrams…" Axel mumbled as he left the room and walked down the hallway.

Emily couldn't wait for everyone to return so she could tell them the news as well. Axel soon returned with a ham and cheese sandwich, or at least, that's what it looked like. Emily took a bite and noticed that it didn't really taste like ham, but it didn't matter. It was delicious.

"Thanks." Emily said with her mouth full.

"No prob." Axel said, lazily waving her off with his hand. Before Axel left the room, he said, "You should rest up. The others'll be returning soon, along with your little _boyfriend_, and there's no doubt that he's gonna want to talk to you." Emily nodded. As soon as she finished her sandwich, Emily felt the effects of sleep hit her like a rock. She was out like a light within ten minutes.

**A/N: so what did ya think? I was trying to picture what axel might do if he learned he had a heart, so… that was just what I thought in my mind. If you have any ideas on what you think a nobody's reaction might be, please tell me because I would really like to hear your ideas. Review please! And again, my thanks goes out to Mr. Fipp.**


	11. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: Don't own.**

**A/N: Hola gente! That's espanol for hello people! Anywho, here's the much awaited capitulo diez. Enjoy:) **

**Chapter 10**

"Pssssst!" a voice whispered. It immediately brought Emily out of her sleep, but she found that she couldn't see when she opened her eyes.

_Nighttime… _She thought.

"Psssst!" the voice hissed again. Emily blindly brought her hands to her eyes, and rubbed them.

"Who's there?" she mumbled. The person did not answer her question, but only said again in the undistinguishable whisper, "Come with me. I want you to see something." Emily blinked several times, and opened her eyes wide, trying to force them to adjust to the lack of light.

"Who's there? I can't see…" Emily mumbled again.

"You'll see." the voice whispered again. Emily sighed and said a little sarcastically, "How am I supposed to come with you, when I can't even see my hand when it's right in front of my face?"

"Here," the voice whispered again, and Emily felt a large hand take hold of her small one. The hand closed tightly around hers, and Emily held onto it as a strong arm helped her sit up, and climb out of bed.

_Tidus…? _Emily thought to herself. The mysterious person began to lead her around the bedroom. Emily was scared to death that they were going to run into something. But she soon realized that this person could see just fine in the darkness.

The person suddenly stopped walking, and Emily ran into them.

"Sorry. Look, can you tell me who---"

"Put your slippers on." the voice instructed.

"But I told you. I can't see." Emily protested, not sure if she wanted to go with this person who would not even tell her who he or she was. She had a hunch that she knew who it was, but she didn't want to jump to conclusions just yet. The person huffed, and Emily felt them leave go of her hand.

"Put your hand on my shoulder so you don't fall over when I lift your foot up." the voice instructed again. Emily did as she was told, and felt a pair of slippers being pushed onto her feet. The slippers were not her own, because they were at least two sizes too big.

She again felt the person grab her hand in a strong grip.

"You have to see this before we leave Radiant Garden tomorrow morn--- in about four hours." the voice said, once again leading her through, not only the room Emily had been sleeping in, but the entire house.

"Where are we going exactly Tidu--- err…" Emily said, catching herself before Tidus' name completely escaped her lips. The mysterious person merely chuckled and said nothing as they reached a halt.

"Close your eyes. I want this to be a surprise."

Emily did as she was told, but not without commenting.

"You're lucky my head's better. Why, just this morning I could barely walk."

"Shhh." the voice silenced her. Emily huffed, but did not speak again.

She heard a large door open, and the person led her out, and closed the door quietly. After the person began walking again, they explained, "We're going to be going up a ladder, but you have to promise to keep your eyes closed. Okay?" Emily nodded, not sure if it was light enough out for the person to see.

_Well, _Emily thought, _that eliminates Axel_. _If it were him, he would have said, 'Got it memorized'_. After not even a minute had gone by, the mystery person stopped again, and took hold of Emily's shoulders.

"Reach out for the ladder--- that's it." the voice said as Emily grasped the cool metal in her hands. She then carefully stuck her right foot out, and placed it on the first step of the ladder. She stopped and said, suddenly worried, "What if I fall?"

"I'm gonna be right behind you. I'll catch you if you fall, I promise."

Emily thought it over for a few minutes, and decided that she trusted this person. _That_, She thought, _eliminates Kairi. I don't think she'd be strong enough to catch me if I fell off a ladder, especially if she was climbing it too_.

"How tall is this ladder?" Emily asked after gently placing her left foot on the same step as her right.

"Not very." the voice whispered in response. "About fifteen steps max." Emily nodded, and began a very cautious climb. She counted in her head as she took slow steps up the ladder. It was proving difficult to keep her eyes closed. She desperately wanted to open them. She could tell it was semi-light out. The light from the moon, at least that's what Emily guessed the light source was, was seeping through her eyelids.

"Fifteen." Emily said as she stopped climbing. "Is this the top?"

"Yes." the voice whispered from not too far below her. Emily reached out with one hand, and felt for ground. But instead of earth, her fingertips met with something else.

"Are--- are we going on a roof top?" she asked, bewildered. She felt the presence of a cool roof shingle underneath her hand.

"Yes. Trust me, you won't regret it. Once you sit down, promise not to open your eyes 'till I tell you."

"I'm gonna die." Emily said, truly thinking that she was going to fall to her death.

"No your not." the voice half laughed. In that moment, Emily realized the person was a boy. Although she should have known. She already came to the realization that this person was definitely not Kairi, and she highly doubted that it was Aerith.

She also doubted that it was Axel. He knew better than to make her close her eyes while climbing a ladder that led to a roof. She also knew that it was not the King. Even though the voice was whispering, it did not have the distinct accent of Mickey Mouse. She figured that Cid, Cloud, Leon, and Merlin wouldn't bother bringing her here because they were smart adults, or at least it seemed so. That left three people: Riku, Sora, or Tidus. Emily had a gut feeling it was Tidus, because she couldn't think of another person who would bother waking her in the middle of the night for something like this. Sora probably wouldn't bother with waking up. He cherished his sleep time, and used it wisely. So that narrowed it down even further. Tidus or Riku.

After Emily got a good grip on a sturdy shingle, she swung each leg over the side, and arranged herself into an Indian-style seating arrangement.

"Look up, but wait to open your eyes." the voice instructed. Emily lifted her head so she was looking towards what she presumed was the sky.

"Okay--- now!" Emily opened her eyes, and sat in awe. She was looking towards a pitch-black sky that was littered with, literally, millions of stars. It was nothing like the nighttime sky view at Destiny Islands. Sure there were lots of stars, but _nothing _like this.

"Wow! This is--- beautiful!" Emily said, not even bothering to look at the person who had brought her here.

"Yeah, I thought you might like it." the person said, still whispering. Still gaping at the sky, Emily said, half laughing, "You don't have to keep whispering, Tidus. I know it's you---" Emily said, putting her head down, and turning towards whom she thought was Tidus. Again the person laughed. Emily gasped, and felt her cheeks redden.

_Out of embarrassment, _Emily told herself, _of course_.

"Riku… I…" she said, stuttering out of surprise. Riku laughed again, and laid back on the roof, placing his hands behind his head.

"I figured you wouldn't have guessed it was me." he said, starring at the star lit sky.

Emily said nothing. Why wasn't the red draining from her cheeks? Sure it had been an embarrassing moment, but she found that she got over things like that more easily now. So why wasn't the color draining from her cheeks? She pulled her knees up to her chest in an effort to conceal her rosy cheeks from Riku.

"So…" Emily said, trying to break the awkward silence that had formed. Riku turned his head towards her, staring at her with aqua eyes, waiting for her to say something. However, Emily found that she had to turn from his gaze, for her stomach had given a sudden lurch.

"So… what…?" Riku asked, not turning his gaze away. Emily took a deep breath in, making an effort to avoid his eyes, "We're leaving again… tomorrow…"

"Mmm…" was Riku's reply. Emily shot him a sideways glance, trying to see if he was still facing her, which he was.

"To what world?" Emily asked.

"Twilight town… but not the one DiZ created. We're going to the real one." Riku replied, finally turning his eyes back towards the sky. Emily nodded, and turned her head to look at him. What was going on? Emily couldn't even begin to describe what she was feeling right now. It was as if a two-headed monster was tearing her apart on the inside. One head wanted to leave this roof top and go back to Tidus, while the other head wanted desperately to stay here in Riku's company.

Emily rested her chin in between her legs. While sitting there in the silence, Emily began to think about something she had never really questioned before. She decided to ask Riku what he thought about it, so she called her key blade. The flash of bright light seemed to startle him as he said, "Could you warn me when you're gonna do that next time?" Emily would've laughed if it was normal circumstances, but in this case, she wanted to keep the seriousness of the mood. She examined her key blade. The Innocent Heart. She had never attached a key chain to her blade before, because she liked the way her key blade was on its own.

"Riku…" she said, shifting her gaze from the giant key, to Riku's eyes, "Why us?" she asked.

"What do you mean?" Riku asked, looking puzzled, as he sat up. Emily took a deep breath before saying, "I guess what I mean is… why… why _all _of us? The four of us. We all have key blades… but… why? I guess… why isn't it just a random selection of key blade wielders? I was thinking… and I just don't understand." Emily stopped, and waited for Riku to say something, but when he didn't, she continued, "I know the story. I've heard it plenty of times. You were supposed to be the original key blade wielder, but because you were deceived by the darkness, and the key blade that chose you was a key blade of light, you couldn't wield it. So… Sora was the delivery boy, if you will, and he went around fighting until he finally got to you. Then the key blade went to you. But when Sora realized that his friends in his heart were his power, the key blade went back to him, and he became the key blade master.

"What I don't understand is, is why can we, you, Kairi, and myself, why can we wield key blades? I mean, the only way we're related is by being friends, well, actually I'm the only one who really _is_ related to Sora, but that aside, what are the chances of four people, not only from the same world, but who all know each other can all wield these keys?" Emily stopped.

"I hadn't really thought about it that much…" Riku said, calling his own key blade and examining the design.

"Sometimes…" Emily said, raising her key blade to get a better look at it, "Sometimes I think that as much of a weapon of light this is, it's a huge burden. It takes us away from our families, we kill with it, and things want to kill us. I wish… I wish we could throw it away, and be done with it!" Emily shouted, lifting her key blade above her head, and throwing it off into the distance. The key blade whooshed away, spinning in the air, and when it was about fifteen feet away, it vanished in a flash of light, and re-appeared in Emily's right hand, which was already outstretched, knowing that this would happen.

"I think---" Riku said, dismissing his key blade, and starring at Emily through his silver hair which had blown over his eyes, "I think we've all felt like that at some point. I know I have, and I'm positive Sora's felt that way many times. But we just have to accept that fact that it's not going away. As much as a key blade is a gift, it is a curse. The good of the worlds rests in our hands. As well as the bad. The worlds send the key blades out to those who are strongest of hearts. It's then up to the person themselves to decide whether they will use the key blade for bad or good. Unfortunately," he said, looking down out of guilt, "Sometimes the person will feel that darkness is the only way. The darkness--- it provides you with power beyond anyone's belief… but that's not to say that it doesn't come with a price. You loose all the people you care about. It's not necessarily the things that you loose; it's the relationships. You can always buy new things, but you can never buy the same person back. I realized that after Ansem…err… Xehanort's heartless took over my body.

"I realized then that I probably lost my best friend all for the power that the darkness provided. I thought--- I thought Sora would never forgive me. But it seemed that I underestimated him…" Riku said, then smiled as he said, "Just like always. Sora--- he's a great person--- great friend. He's definitely one in a million. There'll never be anyone else like him."

"Yeah…" Emily said, dismissing her own key blade. "I know."

After that conversation, there really wasn't anymore talking between the two. Instead, they laid back on the rooftop and stared up at the sky. The stars--- no, there were worlds, were beautiful. Emily found herself getting lost in them, as if her soul had left her body, and was floating around in space, basking in the glory of all the light and warmth that the worlds were giving off. However, she came back down to earth when she felt something in her hand. She looked down, and realized that another hand was intertwined with hers. Her cheeks immediately flushed hot red, and her stomach began to feel as if thousands of butterflies were all flying in different directions. She had felt this feeling before… only… it was with Tidus. Emily suddenly sat up, which startled Riku, and he sat up too.

"What's wrong?" he asked, not realizing his hand had slowly inched its way into hers. Emily stared down at there interlocked hands, and Riku immediately knew what was wrong.

As he took his hand out of hers, he said, "…Sorry… I---"

"I--- I think we should be getting back now…" Emily said, avoiding looking at Riku at all costs.

"Y---yeah… good idea… sleep…" Riku said, his own cheeks turning a slight shade of pink. Riku let Emily go down the ladder first before he hopped over the ledge and quickly climbed down the ladder himself. They walked back to Merlin's in a very awkward silence, forcing themselves not to look at one another. As Emily opened the door to go into the bedroom she had grown so accustomed to, Riku said quietly, "…Goodnight…"

"You too." she said, before closing her door behind her.

As she laid down in the bed, covering herself back up underneath the warm blanket, she couldn't help but feel some sense of satisfaction. One of the heads of the two-headed beast was very pleased indeed, while the other one was having fits of rage and guilt. Then, it was as if two voices began having an argument inside Emily's head. It was almost like the devil and the angel that would come out of people in cartoons, and argue.

"What, did you just _forget_ Tidus was your boyfriend up there?" the first voice asked.

"No! Of course not!" the second voice said grumpily.

"Mm hmm." replied the first voice. "It seems to me that you don't like Tidus the way you did before. Perhaps Riku is your new person of interest…" The second voice stuttered before saying, "N-no! I like Tidus… a lot! Riku's just---"

"Just what?" the first voice interrupted. "Let me guess. A friend, right?"

"Yeah! That's it." the second voice replied.

"Do you plan on talking to Tidus about your little 'incident' that happened tonight?" the first voice questioned.

"No! What Tidus doesn't know won't hurt him." the second voice relied with pigheadedness.

_Shut up! _Emily shouted at the two voices._ I want some sleep before we leave_. After that, the two voices stopped, but Emily kept replaying the feelings she had gotten when she discovered she was holding hands with Riku. What was happening to her? She loved Tidus… Riku was just a really good friend. That was all… or was it? Emily squeezed her eyes closed, and forced herself to sleep. After finally drifting off, she had a dream. In her dream, Emily was holding hands with Riku, while Tidus was floating around them, as if he were a ghost.

_**8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8**_

"Em!" someone's voice shouted. Emily sat up quickly, her eyes wide. Then the someone began to laugh historically.

"You should've seen your face!" it was Sora. Emily should have guessed. She glared at him, and reached up to her forehead. She had been sweating. She wiped her brow with her sleeve, and asked, "What's going on? Why are you in here?"

"We're getting ready to go, and I was packing some of our stuff. There wasn't room for our bags in any of the other rooms, so we stored it all in here." Sora explained, lifting a bag up in each arm.

"Oh yeah… that's right…" Emily said, mentally smacking herself in the forehead. "I forgot we were leaving." After Sora had left the room, Emily closed the door, and picked out a new outfit to wear. She didn't particularly care what she was going to wear, so she randomly threw some clothing on. Baggy, dark-blue shorts, and a loose, maroon colored T-shirt. She combed her hair back into a ponytail as gently as she could, and zipped up her duffel bag.

As she put the strap of her bag over her shoulder, the door suddenly opened, and there stood one of the people she really didn't want to see at the moment.

"Want me to get that for you?" Tidus asked, already taking Emily's bag off of her shoulder.

"Thanks." Emily said, avoiding looking into his eyes.

"Aerith wants to see you. She wants to change your bandage one more time." Tidus said. Emily nodded, and began walking past Tidus to go out the door, when he stopped her with a hug. It surprising, but it felt nice to feel Tidus close to her again.

"I haven't been able to see you the entire time we were here!" Tidus said, putting his head on Emily's shoulder. Emily slowly wrapped her arms around him.

"I know. Hey…" she said, not letting go of the embrace, "How'd your training go with---" she paused, looking out into the hallway. Riku was passing her doorway with his own bag slung over his shoulder. Upon looking at Emily, he immediately looked down at his feet and continued walking.

"Merlin?" Tidus asked, gently pushing Emily in front of him.

"Huh?" Emily asked, completely forgetting what she had asked.

"You were asking me about my training… with Merlin." Tidus told her, looking concerned.

"You okay?" he asked. Emily nodded.

"Sorry… I--- spaced out." Emily said, inventing an excuse.

"Well…" Tidus said, giving Emily a small smile, which began to form a giant grin, "My training was awesome! I learned all these cool spells. I had no idea how much there was to learning magic. There's fire magic, gravity magic, stop magic, ice magic, healing magic, I mean, I could go on and on!" Tidus said, getting more and more excited as he continued, "Merlin said that I'm one of the fastest learners he's ever met! He's never seen someone progress as fast as I have!"

"That's wonderful!" Emily said, truly happy for Tidus, although she couldn't help but feel a little jealousy because she was a key blade wielder, and she couldn't even perform magic herself.

"I'm already on level two magic! And I can do two summons too! I can call this deer, Bambi, and a fairy named Tinkerbell. Plus, I've got this cool staff slash sword thing. All I have to do is think about the staff in my hand, and it shows up, just like your key blade! Here! Watch!" Tidus said. He held out his hand, and a small popping noise could be heard, as a long, pole type object began to stretch and grow in Tidus' hand. The object quickly formed. It looked like Donald's staff on one end; a small witch's head with a black pointed hat, and it looked like a sharp sword on the other end. The sword had a lion's head etched into it.

"That's sweet!" Emily said, looking at the weapon in awe. Tidus beamed.

"I know, isn't it?" he asked. Emily nodded. Tidus then began to explain something about a 'limit', but Emily never got to hear it.

"Hey! Lovebirds! We're getting ready to go, and if you're not with us, you're stayin' here!" It was Axel. He was standing in the hallway just outside Emily's door. Tidus turned around to look at him, his weapon slowly shrinking back into nothingness.

"Kid, Aerith wants you to see her before you go." Axel said before continuing down the hall.

"Shoot, that's right. I'll talk to you on the Gummi ship?" Emily asked. Tidus nodded, and Emily went out of the room. She had no clue where she was going. The most she had seen of the house were the bedroom, and the hallway. However, she did know where the main room was, so she decided to look for Aerith there.

Emily walked out, and saw the messiest room she had ever seen. There was a bed, and a couch, and possibly a few end tables, but Emily couldn't be sure because there was junk covering every inch of the room. There were tattered books, torn pages, clothing, and things that Emily couldn't even identify on the floor. She was careful not to step on anything, as she made her way across the room. She didn't see Aerith, but that didn't mean that Aerith wasn't in there. She could have been hiding underneath the piles of junk.

"There you are!" said Aerith's voice from behind Emily. Emily turned to face her. Aerith was holding a small bandage, and what looked like skin tape, along with a bottle of some type of rubbing alcohol.

"I know this room is messy, but every time I clean it, it just gets like this all over again. It's normally a little less cluttered, but I haven't had time to clean all week." Aerith said, already getting to work on Emily's forehead.

"It looks so much better. It's scabbed over now, so it shouldn't cause you too much pain. Just promise to be more careful." Aerith said. She had already taken off the old bandage, and had dabbed the alcohol like fluid on the wound, and was now using the skin tape to stick the small, white pad to Emily's head.

"There!" she said when she was finished.

"Thanks!" Emily said. Without Aerith, Emily didn't know if she would've healed that fast.

"You should get going. The other's are waiting for you." Aerith said, waving as Emily headed for what she knew was the front door.

"Bye!" Emily called as she rushed out the door. She was greeted by the King, whom she had almost ran into.

"Hey, your majesty!" she said, bowing slightly.

"I was just comin' back ta getcha! We're gettin' ready ta go. C'mon!" the King said, motioning for Emily to follow. After walking for a total of ten minutes, they arrived at the Gummi ship portal. Everyone else must have already been beamed up because they were no where in sight.

"Let's go." the King said as he and Emily stepped into the center of the green circle. This time, Emily was expecting it when the suction part of the teleportation came. She even managed to keep her balance when she suddenly found herself on board the large spacecraft.

"Good ta see ya, yer majesty!" the familiar voice of the giant dog called. "And it's good ta see you too, Emily! A hyuck!" Goofy said. He was sitting next to Donald and Max in the cockpit seats.

"Good to see you too, Goofy." Emily said, smiling at the giant dog. Emily immediately spotted her friends, and ran up to them.

"About time you got here." Sora said jokingly.

"It's not my fault. I had to get my bandage changed." Emily said back.

"Take a seat everyone! We're about ta enter warp drive," the King said. Every one did as they were told. Emily sat in-between Tidus and Kairi on one of the bench seats. Emily buckled herself in as the King ordered, "Set the coordinates to Twilight Town, Max."

"Will do your majesty." Max said, saluting as he went up to the giant computer screen. After hitting a few buttons he said, "Coordinates are set and locked your majesty."

"Ready?" Donald quacked. After receiving a 'yes' from everyone, Donald cried, "Blast off!" and the ship entered warp drive. Emily was pressed against the back of the seat, and just when she thought the pressure couldn't get any worse, it stopped.

"It's safe ta get up now." the King said, unbuckling, and hopping out of his seat. Everyone followed suit, and began heading towards different places. Emily and Tidus decided to stay on the bench. Tidus then started rambling things off about what he could do with his magic. Emily wasn't really listening, but she did nod and say "mm hmm." in the appropriate places. The whole while, her conscience was eating away at her. She kept remembering the way she had felt while she had held hands with Riku on the roof. The scene replayed itself in her mind until she snapped back to reality as Max cried, "Now exiting warp drive! Everybody hold tight!" The ship suddenly lurched to a halt, and everyone fell forward. After a quick scramble to regain their composer, everyone burst out laughing.

"Twilight Town approaching." Max said, working away at the computer. "Requesting safe place to beam. Spot found. Is everyone ready?" Max said, hitting the large button that allowed the green beaming circle to appear in a flash of bright light.

"Let's go everybody! Donald, Goofy, and Max, you're coming too!" The King cried. As soon as everyone crowded into the circle, there was a bright flash, the sudden darkness and suction feeling, and then everyone landed in the corresponding circle. Well, some people fell, mainly, Tidus, Kairi, and Max, but other than that everyone else managed to keep their balance. Emily offered her hand to Tidus, who took it and said, "Thanks."

"No prob." Emily said, glancing at Riku, who looked very spaced out at the moment.

"Now listen," the King said, making everyone form a circle. "I've got several missions for us here, so I'm not sure how long it'll take. But I've gotta split us up inta teams. But first, here's what I want us ta do while were here…"

**A/N: so what'd you think? Hmm… what's gonna happen if Emily has a secret crush on Riku… what will happen to Tidus? You'll just have to keep reading to find out. :3**


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